cold shoulder

noun

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Definition of cold shoulder

: intentionally cold or unsympathetic treatment got the cold shoulder from an old friend

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Synonyms & Antonyms for cold shoulder

Synonyms

Antonyms

open arms

Examples of cold shoulder in a Sentence

at the party the two former friends consciously gave each other the cold shoulder

Recent Examples on the Web The Proud Boys aren't the only ones feeling the presidential cold shoulder. — Barnini Chakraborty, Washington Examiner, "Proud Boys and QAnon followers face identity crisis and turn on Trump," 22 Jan. 2021 This knee-length number features a cold shoulder that gives a chic twist to your usual sweater dress. — Kiana Murden, CNN Underscored, "New Year’s Eve outfits that will have you celebrating 2021 in style," 21 Dec. 2020 Meredith didn’t intuit that she was supposed to be giving Mary the cold shoulder in order to be loyal to Jen. — Jodi Walker, EW.com, "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City recap: Jen on 10," 3 Dec. 2020 There are surely other reasons, too, that the film world has turned a cold shoulder to this cinematic packaging of Vance’s book. — Lisa R. Pruitt, The Conversation, "The chattering classes got the ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ book wrong – and they’re getting the movie wrong, too," 3 Dec. 2020 Browns safety Ronnie Harrison, a native of Tallahassee, Fla. got the cold shoulder from Mother Nature on Tuesday. — cleveland, "Browns’ Ronnie Harrison gets the cold shoulder from Mother Nature the same day he finds out he’s out 4-6 weeks," 3 Dec. 2020 House Democrats say Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is giving them the cold shoulder. — TheWeek, "House Democrats say postmaster Louis DeJoy has ignored their document requests," 31 Aug. 2020 Republican senators have turned a cold shoulder to statehood on political as well as legal grounds. — Washington Post, "After GOP attacks, D.C. residents launch statehood campaign to show they’re ‘real people’," 27 Aug. 2020 Telling stories and exposing injustice is worth the price of the occasional cold shoulder from public officials for McDonald. — Harshawn Ratanpal, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Watchdog reporter laments lack of access to public officials," 6 Aug. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cold shoulder.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.