# freezing

Pronunciation: say "FREE-zing" US /ˈfɹiz.ɪŋ/, UK /ˈfɹiːz.ɪŋ/

## Adjective

1. Extremely cold, cold enough to be uncomfortable or even painful.
   - Simple: Extremely cold, almost too cold to be comfortable.
   - _The wind off the lake was freezing by early evening._
   - _Workers in the freezing warehouse needed several extra layers._
2. So cold that frost forms, or itself afflicted by frost.
   - Simple: Cold enough to make frost form, or already covered in frost.
   - _A freezing wind coated the fields with frost overnight._
   - _The freezing temperatures damaged much of the citrus crop._
5. At zero degrees Celsius, the temperature at which water turns to ice.
   - Simple: Right at zero degrees Celsius, where water turns into ice.
   - _Overnight the temperature fell to freezing and the puddles iced over._
   - _It was a few degrees below freezing when we left this morning._

## Verb

3. Present participle and gerund of freeze. — present participle and gerund of freeze
   - Simple: Present participle of freeze. Use it when the freezing is happening right now.
   - _Water was freezing on the windshield faster than the wipers could clear it._
   - _She spent the afternoon freezing the summer harvest for winter._

## Noun

4. The shift of a substance from liquid to solid, brought on by cooling to a critically low temperature.
   - Simple: The change from a liquid into a solid when something gets cold enough.
   - _Freezing is what hardens the surface of a pond in deep winter._
   - _The freezing of seawater happens at a lower temperature than fresh water._
6. The act of numbing part of the body using an anesthetic, especially in dentistry or minor surgery.
   - Simple: When a doctor uses medicine to make part of the body feel numb.
   - _The dentist administered a freezing before starting the procedure._
   - _He asked for an extra freezing because he could still feel the drill._

## Origin

Formed from the verb "freeze" combined with the suffix "-ing".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/freezing (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).