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

Relevance

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
  • But being a teenager can be isolating, confusing, and an emotional rollercoaster—and what can start as an attempt to find friends can quickly spiral into an unhealthy obsession.
    — Sherri Gordon, Parents, 10 July 2026
  • It’s designed to focus on facial features, isolating every muscle.
    — Joy Press, Vanity Fair, 6 July 2026
Definition of isolating
Verb
  • El-Sayed has built his campaign around bold policy proposals, rejecting corporate PAC money and casting himself as an alternative to the status quo of the Democratic Party.
    — Joey Cappelletti, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2026
  • Kalshi lost an attempt to override New York’s state gambling laws yesterday, with a federal judge rejecting the prediction market operator’s request to prevent enforcement of the rules.
    — Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 8 July 2026
Definition of rejecting
Verb
  • Over the years, the Oscars have garnered a reputation for snubbing studio tentpoles from consideration in above-the-line categories.
    — Sophia Morano, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026
  • In all three races, Mamdani rolled the political dice by snubbing powerful establishment Democratic figures and flexing his own electoral muscle.
    — Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 22 June 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
  • This allows manufacturers to bypass spinning, weaving, cutting or sewing — the multistage process that has defined apparel manufacturing for centuries.
    — Angela Velasquez, Footwear News, 10 July 2026
  • The federal agency also recommends cutting away any damaged or bruised areas on fruits and vegetables before preparing and eating.
    — Michelle Marchante July 10, Miami Herald, 10 July 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
  • Homegrown catnip oil lotion is just as effective as DEET at repelling mosquitoes, according to a new study in Uganda.
    — Paige Bruton, semafor.com, 10 July 2026
  • My own team’s research has shown that mycorrhizal fungi can alter chemicals released by plants in ways that are useful for repelling insects while attracting pollinators and insects’ natural enemies.
    — Esther Ndumi Ngumbi, The Conversation, 8 July 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
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cold-shouldering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cold-shouldering. Accessed 16 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of bibelot

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
child-detective
Spot the Misspelled Word July 2026 Those little red underlines can't help you now...
See All