antifreeze
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of antifreeze
Explanation
Antifreeze is a liquid that lowers the freezing point of water. People put antifreeze in cars so water in the engine doesn't freeze. When water or another liquid freezes, it becomes a solid. A word starting with the prefix anti works against something. Antifreeze is a synthetic liquid that keeps water (or another liquid) from freezing by lowering the freezing point. This is important for many kinds of engines, such as car engines. In climates with very low temperatures in winter, putting antifreeze in cars is important. Antifreeze is crucial to many other machines and gadgets, because frozen liquid can disturb their operation.
Vocabulary lists containing antifreeze
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:
Producers are expected to add antifreeze into the gas stream, for instance.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
The experimental approach uses a medication typically given to patients poisoned by antifreeze.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 18, 2026
Cryonics is where the whole body is cooled down to sub-zero temperatures, infused with cryoprotectants - which is similar to antifreeze - to prevent ice crystal formation, then preserved in liquid nitrogen.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025
The colorless gas is also used to make chemicals found in products such as antifreeze, detergents, plastics and adhesives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2025
The cooling system was so loaded with antifreeze that it could have withstood polar weather.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Say the words “gas station food” and a certain image probably comes to mind: Dusty, sodium-packed snacks nestled among neon antifreezes and pine-scented air fresheners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
Minard says the overall cost of making it will be ‘near to or lower than’ ethylene glycol antifreezes, and they are optimistic it will be reach the market within a few years.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 27, 2015
The first animal antifreezes were identified several decades ago in the blood plasma of Antarctic fish by Arthur DeVries, now at the University of Illinois, and his colleagues.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2010
Unlike the protein antifreezes of other beetles, snow fleas and moths, the Upis antifreeze is a complex sugar called xylomannan that is as effective at suppressing ice growth as the most active insect protein antifreezes.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2010
In the most frigid polar waters, fish and other animals flourish, their blood kept fluid by biochemical antifreezes.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
