1
: completely cold
stone-cold soup
The weather was stone-cold and often gray, with a 20-mile-an-hour headwind scouring the backstretch.—
Lorna Lentini
—often used figurativelyLorna Lentinia stone-cold killer
… his stone-cold calculation was that he could score more money more quickly with a bat and glove.—Scott Burton
Scott Burton
US, informal
: absolutely, utterly
stone-cold sober
Walter Anderson was a stone-cold handsome guy, a tall, powerfully built man with a thick head of wavy blond hair …—Edgar Allen Beam
Edgar Allen BeamExamples of stone-cold in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 4 Nov. 2025
Game 3 of the World Series was a stone-cold thriller, with peaks of high drama and longueurs of exquisitely tense tedium.
—Steve Rushin, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2025
With fangs flashing and a lengthy, serpentine tail trailing behind her, the supermodel was — quite literally — a stone-cold stunner.
—Stephanie Giang-Paunon, FOXNews.com, 1 Nov. 2025
Heidi Klum, the Queen of Halloween herself, transformed into a stone-cold stunner at her annual Halloween party in New York City.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 1 Nov. 2025
Cascarino ran toward the bench with a stone-cold expression.
—Fernando Ramirez, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Aug. 2025
Charles turned to a grinning Marina Mabrey with a stone-cold expression as their chests collided in celebration while more than 8,800 fans roared behind them.
—Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 1 Aug. 2025
Elsewhere, outlaw country singer Alex Williams released Space Brain, a collection of hair metal songs reinvented as stone-cold country music.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 30 July 2025
Jon Bernthal has appeared in several Marvel television series as the stone-cold vigilante known as the Punisher, even headlining his own series.
—Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 20 June 2025
Katie Rife, Vulture, 9 Nov. 2025
Once upon a time, this stone-cold killer from a galaxy far, far away was merely another threat that stood between Arnold Schwarzenegger and survival in the jungles of Central America.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 4 Nov. 2025
Game 3 of the World Series was a stone-cold thriller, with peaks of high drama and longueurs of exquisitely tense tedium.
—Steve Rushin, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2025
Now, 30 years after its initial release, the song is a stone-cold ’90s country classic and has been a mainstay in Jackson’s concerts for the past three decades.
—Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 22 Feb. 2023
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Adjective
With no further explanation, the image also finds her stone-cold visage bracketed by her name and the single’s title, with the caption teasing a Thursday (Nov. 6) release.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 4 Nov. 2025
Game 3 of the World Series was a stone-cold thriller, with peaks of high drama and longueurs of exquisitely tense tedium.
—Steve Rushin, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2025
With fangs flashing and a lengthy, serpentine tail trailing behind her, the supermodel was — quite literally — a stone-cold stunner.
—Stephanie Giang-Paunon, FOXNews.com, 1 Nov. 2025
Heidi Klum, the Queen of Halloween herself, transformed into a stone-cold stunner at her annual Halloween party in New York City.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 1 Nov. 2025
Cascarino ran toward the bench with a stone-cold expression.
—Fernando Ramirez, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Aug. 2025
Charles turned to a grinning Marina Mabrey with a stone-cold expression as their chests collided in celebration while more than 8,800 fans roared behind them.
—Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 1 Aug. 2025
Elsewhere, outlaw country singer Alex Williams released Space Brain, a collection of hair metal songs reinvented as stone-cold country music.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 30 July 2025
Jon Bernthal has appeared in several Marvel television series as the stone-cold vigilante known as the Punisher, even headlining his own series.
—Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 20 June 2025
Adverb
Here, Victor Frankenstein (Ralph Bates) is a posh womanizer and stone-cold sociopath.
—Katie Rife, Vulture, 9 Nov. 2025
Once upon a time, this stone-cold killer from a galaxy far, far away was merely another threat that stood between Arnold Schwarzenegger and survival in the jungles of Central America.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 4 Nov. 2025
Game 3 of the World Series was a stone-cold thriller, with peaks of high drama and longueurs of exquisitely tense tedium.
—Steve Rushin, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2025
Now, 30 years after its initial release, the song is a stone-cold ’90s country classic and has been a mainstay in Jackson’s concerts for the past three decades.
—Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 22 Feb. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Stone-cold.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stone-cold. Accessed 27 Nov. 2025.
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