fridge
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fridge
1925–30; by shortening of refrigerator or Frigidaire
Explanation
Fridge is short for refrigerator, that giant kitchen appliance that keeps food cold. If you’re too hungry to say five syllables, just say you’re going to see what’s in the fridge. Although fridge is a little word, a fridge can be anything from a regular-sized refrigerator to one of those little mini-fridges that live in a dorm room or man cave. Fridge sounds like frigid, which means very cold. The colloquial fridge has been around since the mid-1920s, possibly inspired by the well-known refrigerator brand Frigidaire.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That includes her niece who has cleared the entire fridge of any produce, tossing it all into the rubbish, including what Michelle saw as a perfectly good watermelon.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
By now, your box of stock has been used up and your fridge is stocked with plenty of leftovers.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
To counter this, Willcocks recommends popping all red wines in the fridge for 10 minutes before serving.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
How about red onion, cherry tomatoes or that half a shallot that’s threatening to turn into a plant in the back of your fridge?
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Then I turn back to the fridge and grab whatever’s in front of me.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Shoppers in Somerset and Bristol reported supermarket fridges switched off and empty, while engineers in Wiltshire reported record call-outs to home fridges that have "given up the ghost".
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Supermarkets are already designing fridges for 35C, even 38C, he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
But to replace all the older supermarket fridges overnight is "impossible", he warned.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
As an NFL fullback, Patrick DiMarco faced linebackers the size of French Door fridges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
He must have one of those brilliant fridges that do everything.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
