fridge
Americannoun
-
fridges
plural
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:
I recently asked ChatGPT what to do with the excess lentil soup in my fridge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Workers regularly collect the trapped mosquitoes and, after sticking them in a fridge for a while to knock them out, sort them by species and count them.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Leave a damp towel in the fridge or freezer and apply it to your neck and chest, the top of your head and your lap for one to two minutes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Instead, all the wines offered during the two-hour session in Didsbury came straight from the fridge.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
I stared into the fridge like it would offer me an answer.
From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence
Extreme heat can make energy processes less efficient and lead to a spike in electricity demand as people increase their use of air conditioning, freezers and fridges.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
As Britain braces itself for another hot week, experts are warning that many fridges in UK homes and supermarkets are unable to cope with the sort of record-breaking temperatures we have been experiencing.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Empty fridges in a supermarket in Cheddar, Somerset, photographed during the record temperatures of late June 2026.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
But to replace all the older supermarket fridges overnight is "impossible", he warned.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 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.
