cool
Americanadjective
-
moderately cold; neither warm nor cold.
a rather cool evening.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
feeling comfortably or moderately cold.
I'm perfectly cool, but open the window if you feel hot.
-
imparting a sensation of moderate coldness or comfortable freedom from heat.
a cool breeze.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
permitting such a sensation.
a cool dress.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
not excited; calm; composed; under control.
to remain cool in the face of disaster.
- Synonyms:
- quiet, placid, unruffled, self-possessed, collected
-
not hasty; deliberate.
a cool and calculated action.
-
lacking in interest or enthusiasm.
a cool reply to an invitation.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
lacking in warmth or cordiality.
a cool reception.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
calmly audacious or impudent.
a cool lie.
-
aloof or unresponsive; indifferent.
He was cool to her passionate advances.
-
unaffected by emotions; disinterested; dispassionate.
She made a cool appraisal of all the issues in the dispute.
-
Informal. (of a number or sum) without exaggeration or qualification.
a cool million dollars.
-
(of colors) with green, blue, or violet predominating.
-
Slang.
-
great; fine; excellent.
a real cool comic.
-
characterized by great facility; highly skilled or clever.
cool maneuvers on the parallel bars.
-
socially adept.
It's not cool to arrive at a party too early.
-
acceptable; satisfactory; okay.
If you want to stay late, that's cool.
-
adverb
interjection
noun
-
something that is cool; a cool part, place, time, etc..
in the cool of the evening.
-
coolness.
-
calmness; composure; poise.
an executive noted for maintaining her cool under pressure.
verb (used without object)
-
to become cool (sometimes followed by down oroff ).
The soup cooled in five minutes. We cooled off in the mountain stream.
-
to become less ardent, cordial, etc.; become moderate.
verb (used with object)
verb phrase
-
cool off to become calmer or more reasonable.
Wait until he cools off before you talk to him again.
-
cool down. see cooldown.
-
cool out to calm or settle down; relax.
cooling out at the beach.
adjective
-
moderately cold
a cool day
-
comfortably free of heat
a cool room
-
producing a pleasant feeling of coldness
a cool shirt
-
able to conceal emotion; calm
a cool head
-
lacking in enthusiasm, affection, cordiality, etc
a cool welcome
-
calmly audacious or impudent
-
informal (esp of numbers, sums of money, etc) without exaggeration; actual
a cool ten thousand
-
(of a colour) having violet, blue, or green predominating; cold
-
(of jazz) characteristic of the late 1940s and early 1950s, economical and rhythmically relaxed
-
informal sophisticated or elegant, esp in an unruffled way
-
informal excellent; marvellous
adverb
noun
-
coolness
the cool of the evening
-
slang calmness; composure (esp in the phrases keep or lose one's cool )
-
slang unruffled elegance or sophistication
verb
-
to make or become cooler
-
to lessen the intensity of (anger or excitement) or (of anger or excitement) to become less intense; calm down
-
slang (usually imperative) to calm down; take it easy
-
to wait or be kept waiting
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
coolingnessnoun
-
coolnessnoun
-
overcoolnessnoun
-
recoolverb
-
subcoolverb (used with object)
-
coolishadjective
-
overcooladjective
-
ultracooladjective
-
uncooledadjective
-
well-cooledadjective
-
coolinglyadverb
-
coollyadverb
-
overcoollyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
coolsimple
-
coolssimple
-
have cooledperfect
-
has cooledperfect
-
am coolingprogressive
-
are coolingprogressive
-
is coolingprogressive
-
have been coolingperfect progressive
-
has been coolingperfect progressive
Past
-
cooledsimple
-
had cooledperfect
-
was coolingprogressive
-
were coolingprogressive
-
had been coolingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cool
First recorded before 1000; Middle English col, coul, Old English cōl; cognate with Middle Low German kōl, Old High German kuoli, German kühl; see cold, chill
Explanation
When the weather is cool, it's not quite cold but not warm either. When people are cool, they're mellow and in control. Cool has many meanings. When the weather goes from 70 degrees to 50, it cooled off. A winning pool player who starts losing also cools off. Drinking lemonade on a hot day is yet another way to cool off. When you lose your temper, you lose your cool. Hot cookies should cool before you eat them. Something fashionable is cool, but if you're cool to an idea, you're not so sure about it. Any situation that becomes less intense has cooled.
Vocabulary lists containing cool
Words for Cheese Writers
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Visual Arts - Introductory
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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:
Most recently, Qatar has floated the idea of a new 10-day ceasefire and an end to restrictions on shipping in the strait as an interim measure to cool tensions, the Journal reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The agency has issued heatstroke alerts in 41 out of Japan's 47 prefectures, urging the public -- especially the many elderly -- to take steps to stay cool.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
I also steal a lot of cool phrases from my son.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike introduced "Tokyo Cool Biz" in April, hoping to expand on her signature cool down initiative which has now become a widely recognised annual summer tradition.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Even the cattails that usually stand straight and tall, protecting the marsh, look weighed down, their heads heavy, slanted sideways, like they’re reaching toward the cool water for some relief.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
“And once it makes that transition from the warmer to the cooler waters, it’s going to fall apart rapidly. So really, it’s just the remnants that are moving forward.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
But inflation data released after Waller spoke was cooler than expected, and markets have settled into a view that July is too soon for a hike.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
Hotter summers could also lead to Europeans vacationing in cooler spots in the future, shifting the traditional Mediterranean trip to the North Sea or the Baltics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The planet, called LHS 1140 b, is 48 light-years from Earth orbiting a red star much smaller and cooler than our Sun.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
She turned to her cooler and shut the lid.
From "Scream for Ice Cream: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #2" by Carolyn Keene
This might well be the hottest summer of your lifetime, and also might be the coolest summer of the rest of your life.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
But, he added, “it can still be one of the coolest places on the planet.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
MT: How do you feel about Gen X’s legacy as basically the coolest generation?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
He noted that he wanted his Futurecave to become “the coolest house ever built.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
He strutted to the board like he was the coolest thing since sliced bread and wrote it for the class.
From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea
I added a private hot tub and an Eight Sleep Pod, which is a really fancy mattress topper that heats and cools your mattress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Equity investors are essentially betting on a just-right scenario in which inflation cools while the job market holds steady, said Mark Vitner, chief economist at Piedmont Crescent Capital.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Analysts at 22V Research said in a recent report that the valuation gap should narrow a bit going forward as they expect longer term bond yields to slide as the economy cools slightly.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
During hot weather our body controls our internal temperature by sweating and as the sweat is evaporated from our skin, it cools the air directly next to us, making us feel cooler.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
The thin atmosphere doesn't conduct heat very well, but it cools everything, eventually.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
On the month, motor fuel was 3.1% cheaper in June than May, as global oil prices fell as hostilities in the Middle East cooled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
It contains testing kits for tuberculosis, cooled storage for vaccines, and ultrasound for pregnant women.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Just before serving, pipe a generous swirl of citrus-whipped ricotta onto each cooled pastry.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
To investigate this idea experimentally, Professor Barontini created a simplified quantum "universe" using a cloud of 24,000 ultracold atoms cooled to just a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
The big metal pots sat on the counter covered with muslin cloth to keep the bugs off while it cooled.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
This weather phenomenon "could affect electricity demand" by increasing cooling needs and limiting hydropower and wind power generation, the IEA said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
The county extended the hours of cooling centers in the Antelope Valley, where temperatures are expected to reach 100 to 108 degrees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Temperatures will be 8 to 12 degrees above normal, with muggy conditions limiting overnight cooling, said Kristan Lund, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Inflation data eased in June, cooling along with oil prices and the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
There’s another startling pop as the cooling units shut off.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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.
