1
: very cold
"Put on your jacket. It's freezing outside!"
Addy rushed home through the darkening streets as if she were pushed along by the wind. She was freezing!—
Connie Porter
Connie Porter2
: being at or below the temperature at which water freezes
a forecast for freezing temperatures overnight
freezing
adverb
The weather was freezing cold. [=very cold]
freezingly
adverb
freezingly cold temperatures
Mrs. Reed's hands still lay on her work inactive: her eye of ice continued to dwell freezingly on mine.
—Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
: the temperature at which water freezes
temperatures dipping below freezing
Examples of freezing in a Sentence
Adjective
why aren't you wearing a coat, as it's freezing outside?
Recent Examples on the Web
Eva Andersen, CBS News, 21 Apr. 2026
Just five hours of sub-freezing temperatures is enough to take out crops.
—Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN Money, 17 Apr. 2026
Keith Cooper, Space.com, 23 Apr. 2026
Some hardier types, such as collards, can be grown all winter long if temperatures rarely drop below freezing in your area.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 22 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for freezing
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Adjective
After several days of unseasonable warmth, freezing temperatures are expected overnight across parts of the Delaware Valley — a sudden swing that could impact both backyard plants and commercial crops.
—Eva Andersen, CBS News, 21 Apr. 2026
Just five hours of sub-freezing temperatures is enough to take out crops.
—Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN Money, 17 Apr. 2026
Noun
These pits can merge to form larger depressions, with floors often covered in polygonal patterns resulting from stresses caused by water freezing and sublimating as Mars' climate changes across the aeons, triggered by changes in the Red Planet's axial tilt.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 23 Apr. 2026
Some hardier types, such as collards, can be grown all winter long if temperatures rarely drop below freezing in your area.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 22 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for freezing
Cite this Entry
“Freezing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freezing. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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