frostbite
Americannoun
-
frostbites
plural
verb (used with object)
noun
-
destruction of tissues, esp those of the fingers, ears, toes, and nose, by freezing, characterized by tingling, blister formation, and gangrene
-
a type of small sailing dinghy
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of frostbite
Explanation
People get frostbite when their skin is exposed to extremely cold temperatures for long enough that their tissue is damaged. High altitude hikers in snowy conditions are vulnerable to frostbite. If your friend scolds you for not wearing your gloves on a bitterly cold day, she's not just giving you a hard time — she might be worried that you'll get frostbite on your fingers. Severe frostbite results in dead tissue and skin, and even the amputation of fingers or toes. Frostbitten came before frostbite, from the idea that your painfully cold fingers have been bitten by frost.
Vocabulary lists containing frostbite
Wintry Words
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Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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Chill Out! Synonyms for "Cold"
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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:
The claims, for which Homeland Security spent $96 million, show detainees were treated for a wide variety of conditions, including strokes, pregnancy, suicide attempts and frostbite.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
After hiding in a woodland near Carmarthen for three days without food or water, McKenna was arrested at Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, as he awaited medical treatment for suspected frostbite.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
"I spoke to the doctors -- he has some frostbite, but otherwise seems okay," Pemba Sherpa added.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
It’s New Year’s Eve glitter, minus the frostbite.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Hector, of course, has started crying, too, and it might just be because he’s about to lose all of his fingers to frostbite.
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
"We are managing his frostbites, cold injuries, hydration and trauma. He is being further evaluated and will be in our ICU."
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Second-and third-degree frostbites are treated like burns; sometimes victims are hospitalized.
From Time Magazine Archive
We slept hour after hour, ate a little, tended our frostbites, inflammations, and bruises, mindspoke, slept again.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
The living wildlings Jon sent off to have their wounds and frostbites tended.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
A great many frostbites occurred about this time, 30th, principally in the men's feet, even when they had been walking quickly on shore for exercise.
From Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 1 by Sir William Edward Parry
In other words, “North Country” seems to be a waxing philosophical in the “True Detective” tradition, but the end-of-the-earth environs inspire thoughts that are tied more to Indigenous myths and frostbit hallucinations.
From New York Times ● Jan. 21, 2024
“The Cro-Magnon” look, he calls it — wide forehead, frostbit eyes, a chin so square it must make mathematicians swoon.
From New York Times ● Jun. 14, 2018
His frostbit ears are still sensitive today, 50 years later.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2017
“I didn’t bite you once! You can keep your underdrawers. Gawdalmighty, them pants is wet, ain’t they? You ain’t frostbit, are you?”
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Next morning the ends of my toes were so frostbit by the extreme cold of the country, that I could no longer go barefooted.
It appears that frostbiting has not changed much in 340 years.
From Time Magazine Archive
To the roaring fire set, frostbiting would seem a study in self-torture.
From Time Magazine Archive
"There are lots of fancy ideas about the motivation for starting frostbiting," says Knapp.
From Time Magazine Archive
We started facing a very keen, frostbiting wind.
From Scott's Last Expedition Volume I by Robert Falcon Scott
The teenager is wet, frostbitten and poorly dressed.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Here on these frostbitten plains, the adults are tired and the children are stoic little beings who crunch around in the snow with the same hassles as everyone else.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2025
One particular tale from “Chinese Menu” tells of how dumplings once apparently cured a village’s frostbitten ears.
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2024
The C.D.C. warns against walking on frostbitten feet or toes or massaging affected areas, which can increase damage.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2023
Ai’s face was badly frostbitten this morning, nose, ears, chin all dead gray when I chanced to look at him.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
