glacial

adjective gla·cial \ ˈglā-shəl \

|Updated on: 10 Aug 2018

Examples: glacial in a Sentence

Definition of glacial

1 : suggestive of ice: such as

a : extremely cold : frigid

a glacial wind

b : devoid of warmth and cordiality

a glacial handshake

c : coldly imperturbable

maintained a glacial calm

2 : of a purity marked by the tendency to readily solidify in the form of ice-like crystals

glacial acetic acid

3 a (1) : of, relating to, or being any of those parts of geologic time from Precambrian onward when a much larger portion of the earth was covered by glaciers than at present

(2) capitalized : pleistocene

b : of, relating to, or produced by glaciers

c : suggestive of the very slow movement of glaciers

progress on the bill has been glacial

—

glacially

play \ˈglā-shə-lē\ adverb

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Examples of glacial in a Sentence

Progress on the bill has been glacial.
a glacial weather front coming down from Canada will bring freezing temperatures this weekend

Recent Examples of glacial from the Web

Hereditary is a great scare-fest and a middling domestic saga, one that probably needed to be either 90 minutes long and brimming with terror, or three hours long and suffused with glacial, Bergman-esque dread.

— david sims, The Atlantic, "The Close-to-Home Horror of Hereditary," 7 June 2018
The findings: Measurements of deep ocean mud taken off the northern coasts of Alaska and Canada in the Beaufort Sea reveal telltale signs in the oxygen content in fossils of long-dead marine organisms that glacial meltwater flowed there.

— dino grandoni, Washington Post, "The Energy 202: Republicans can't agree on this climate deal brokered by Obama," 12 July 2018
That included the massive glacial Lake Agassiz, which stretched from the Great Lakes northwestward across much of Canada.

— christopher mooney, BostonGlobe.com, "Scientists may have solved a huge riddle that led to more than 1,000 years of cold on Earth. It doesn’t bode well," 12 July 2018
Sacred Deer, which had its share of good reviews (not including mine), failed to find an audience ($2 million at the box office) though its glacial pacing may have been more to blame than its sadistic torments.

— gary thompson, Philly.com, "Think these movies are too gory? The Greek myths they're based on are worse," 12 July 2018
She and her husband run an organic beef, fruit and vegetable farm on the slopes of a glacial moraine in Minnesota.

— emily hopkins, Cincinnati.com, "Your produce is less healthy than it was 70 years ago. These farmers might change that," 4 July 2018
Even under ordinary conditions, Antarctica’s landscape is perpetually changing as icebergs calve, snow falls and ice melts on the surface, forming glacial sinkholes known as moulins.

— kendra pierre-louis, New York Times, "Antarctica Is Melting Three Times as Fast as a Decade Ago," 13 June 2018
But in any case, glacial rebound is too slow a process to be a comfort to humans.

— National Geographic, "The West Antarctic Ice Sheet Seems to Be Good at Collapsing," 13 June 2018
Passengers can sit inside out of the cold and view the icy glacial waters or just find a private area to read, nap or socialize.

— rosemary mcclure, latimes.com, "Norwegian Cruise Line sends a really big ship to L.A., and there may be more to come," 30 May 2018

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