cold-shouldering

verb

present participle of cold-shoulder
as in isolating
to deliberately ignore or treat rudely cold-shouldered by his old friends after his family had lost all of its money

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cold-shouldering
  1. isolating
  2. rejecting
  3. snubbing
  4. repulsing
  5. cutting
  6. slighting
  7. stiff-arming
  8. repelling
Verb
  • Life as a professional tennis player is far too isolating for that.
    — Ava Wallace, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
  • By isolating electrical and fluid lines from pulling forces, the design preserves conductor integrity and dramatically extends cable service life.
    — IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of isolating
Verb
  • At first, all 15 countries have the same colored ballot slips for the straw polls, so no one knows who is supporting or rejecting a candidate.
    — Tim Backshall, Christian Science Monitor, 9 Sep. 2026
  • There is still time for Americans to create a new apogee before America 300 by rejecting the lies, insecurity, and ignorance endemic of the last quarter-century.
    — Michael E. Neagle, Hartford Courant, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of rejecting
Verb
  • However, when one of the three women feels guilty about snubbing their lifelong pal, Mel shows up and suddenly the weekend turns to complete chaos, tempting the trio to break free from the madness that has hobbled their friend group for years.
    — Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Yet no one hauled him before Congress to answer for stoking racial tensions, snubbing George Washington, or making America sad on her birthday.
    — Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of snubbing
Verb
  • While there are dismemberments and other bits of gruesome violence to be found in the film, Badlands is largely aimed at endearing its audience rather than repulsing them.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 4 Nov. 2025
Definition of repulsing
Verb
  • On a September 2026 episode of Not Just Football With Cam Heyward, Rodgers offered a small nugget about how the wedding went down before cutting himself off.
    — Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Sep. 2026
  • The victim told police a handful of men had gotten together drinking and smoking while a tree cutting crew was in the neighborhood after recent storms, records state.
    — Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of cutting
Verb
  • But in discharging this function, poets are in danger of slighting another imperative, namely, to redress poetry as poetry, to set it up as its own category, an eminence established and a pressure exercised by distinctly linguistic means.
    — Nick Laird, The New York Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2026
  • The subtext to the litigation is Oakley’s personal grievance against Dolan, whom the ex-player has long criticized, in part for slighting him compared to other Knicks legends.
    — Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 3 Nov. 2025
Definition of slighting
Verb
  • The next game, stiff-arming guys.
    — Sean Joseph OutKick, FOXNews.com, 27 May 2026
  • After stiff-arming challengers on the front 9, Cink played free and easy.
    — Jay Paris, Oc Register, 30 Mar. 2026
Definition of stiff-arming
Verb
  • Most claims about cornstarch in gardening, such as repelling ants or boosting water retention, lack scientific evidence.
    — Leanne Potts, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Eucalyptus Oil Eucalyptus oil works similarly to peppermint oil in repelling mice.
    — Emily Benda Gaylord, The Spruce, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of repelling
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

cold-shouldered
cold-shouldering
cold shoulders
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Cite this Entry

“Cold-shouldering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cold-shouldering. Accessed 15 Sep. 2026.

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