icy

iciest; icier

Something that's icy is frozen like ice or covered in ice. A winter road could be icy; and, if you give someone an icy stare, they are going to feel like hitting the road.

Use the adjective icy to describe your town's slippery sidewalks in the winter or the frosty peas you just removed from the freezer. You can also describe very cold conditions as icy: "I'm putting my long underwear on — it's icy out there!" When a person is icy, they are aloof and unemotional, as opposed to warm and friendly. This figurative meaning has been around since the late 1500s.

Definitions of icy
  1. adjective
    covered with or containing or consisting of ice
    “icy northern waters”
    Synonyms:
    frozen
    turned into ice; affected by freezing or by long and severe cold
  2. adjective
    shiny and slick as with a thin coating of ice
    “roads and trees glazed with an icy film”
    Synonyms:
    glazed, shiny
    having a shiny surface or coating
  3. adjective
    extremely cold
    “icy hands”
    synonyms: arctic, frigid, gelid, glacial, polar
    cold
    having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
  4. adjective
    devoid of warmth and cordiality; expressive of unfriendliness or disdain
    “icy stare”
    synonyms: frigid, frosty, frozen, glacial, wintry
    cold
    extended meanings; especially of psychological coldness; without human warmth or emotion
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘icy'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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