gelid

adjective

gel·id ˈje-ləd

Synonyms of gelid

: extremely cold : icy

gelid water

a man of gelid reserve—New Yorker

gelidity

jə-ˈli-də-tē

je-

noun

gelidly

ˈje-ləd-lē

adverb

Did you know?

Alright stop, collaborate and listen: the history of gelid is all about ice, ice, baby. Gelid entered English late in the 16th century from the Latin adjective gelidus, which ultimately comes from the noun gelu, meaning “frost” or “cold.” (The noun gelatin, which can refer to an edible jelly that undergoes a cooling process as part of its formation, comes from the related Latin word, gelare, meaning “to freeze.”) Gelid is used to describe anything of extremely cold temperature (as in “the gelid waters of the Arctic Ocean”), but the word can also be used figuratively to describe a person with a cold demeanor (as in “the prizefighter’s gelid stare”).

Examples of gelid in a Sentence

the Titanic passengers could not long survive the gelid waters of the North Atlantic the judge listened with the gelid detachment of someone who had heard it all before

Recent Examples on the Web

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.

Moss brought an uncanny, even creepy quality to the character which added to the show’s gelid mystique. —Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 29 Apr. 2022 Instead, most of its plasma comes from icy volcanism on Enceladus, a gelid moon that erupts water-ice slush from deep crevasses around its south pole. —Robin Andrews, Wired, 22 Feb. 2022