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• deep freeze
  deep freeze

  noun

  a state or period of halted or suspended activity or progress.
• deep-freeze
  deep-freeze

  verb (used with object)

  to quick-freeze (food).

deep freeze

¹ American  

noun

1. a state or period of halted or suspended activity or progress.

   High interest rates created a deep freeze in housing construction.

2. suspended animation.

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idioms

1. put in / into the deep freeze, to stop or suspend the activity or progress of.

   A series of quarrels put their romance into the deep freeze.

deep-freeze ² American  

[deep-freez] / ˈdipˈfriz /

verb (used with object)

deep-freezed, deep-froze, deep-freezed, deep-frozen, deep-freezing

1. to quick-freeze (food).

2. to store in a frozen state.

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Etymology

Origin of deep freeze¹

An Americanism dating back to 1940–45

Origin of deep-freeze²

An Americanism dating back to 1945–50; deep + freeze

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

deep freeze deep-freeze deep-froze deep-frozen

"Relations remain in deep freeze," former Pakistani diplomat, Husain Haqqani, now a senior fellow at Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy and Hudson Institute, told the BBC.

From BBC ● May 7, 2026

Two years after a cold-storage operator delivered the year’s largest public offering, the U.S. market for refrigerated warehouse space is in the deep freeze.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026

Consider these statistics about the deep freeze in the labor market:

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 25, 2026

“We’re in a deep freeze when it comes to the labor market,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026

Mrs. Zuckerman wanted to see a deep freeze.

From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White

The committed band of Minneapolis residents organized spontaneously, defying the deep-freeze conditions to confront the operation that has ensnared longtime city residents.

From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026

This deep-freeze haven for comets is believed to stretch more than one-quarter of the way to the next star.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2023

The deep-freeze will be particularly dangerous for the homeless.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 20, 2022

This means it needs to be transported in a carefully-controlled deep-freeze delivery chain.

From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2020

I had to press my forehead against the frosty glass, had to deep-freeze my brain and ice down my anger before I could even lift my arm and rap on the door.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

The researchers took weekly blood samples but did not find the culprit; so they deep-froze the samples and stored them.

From Time Magazine Archive

On land, permafrost melting and collapsing Arctic coastlines are dramatically altering ecological interactions and biogeochemistry due to the release of millennia-old carbon stores, trace elements, nutrients and potentially even deep-frozen ancient viruses and pathogenic bacteria.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2023

Until recently, the site had been deep-frozen in the subsoil known as permafrost.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2021

The Popeyes turkey I picked up last Wednesday night was a plastic-wrapped, deep-frozen behemoth that, I was informed, would take a full four days to defrost.

From Slate ● Nov. 21, 2018

Whereas the other two vaccines need to be deep-frozen, Johnson & Johnson's products will keep at temperatures between 2°C and 8°C, she said, a major advantage in remote areas.

From Science Magazine ● Jan. 9, 2015

“How far is that man going to sail? If we go on like this, we’ll soon be in Burano and as stiff as deep-frozen chickens.”

From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke