glacial
Americanadjective
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of or relating to glaciers or ice sheets.
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resulting from or associated with the action of ice or glaciers.
glacial terrain.
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characterized by the presence of ice in extensive masses or glaciers.
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bitterly cold; icy.
a glacial winter wind.
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happening or moving extremely slowly.
The work proceeded at a glacial pace.
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icily unsympathetic or immovable.
a glacial stare; glacial indifference.
- Synonyms:
- hostile, unfriendly, forbidding
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Chemistry. of, relating to, or tending to develop into icelike crystals.
glacial phosphoric acid.
adjective
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characterized by the presence of masses of ice
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relating to, caused by, or deposited by a glacier
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extremely cold; icy
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cold or hostile in manner
a glacial look
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(of a chemical compound) of or tending to form crystals that resemble ice
glacial acetic acid
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very slow in progress
a glacial pace
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Relating to or derived from a glacier.
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Characterized or dominated by the existence of glaciers, as the Pleistocene Epoch.
Other Word Forms
- glacially adverb
- nonglacial adjective
- nonglacially adverb
- unglacial adjective
- unglacially adverb
Etymology
Origin of glacial
1650–60; < Latin glaciālis icy, equivalent to glaci ( ēs ) ice + -ālis -al 1
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.
"These are extreme disturbances within the system, and it has not yet been investigated whether the glacial system can absorb this amount of water and is able to influence the drainage itself."
From Science Daily
He said the sytem in Northern Ireland moves at a "glacial place" in comparison to other parts of the United Kingdom.
From BBC
Instead, the replacement of a glacial, carbon-rich deep-water mass by newly formed Antarctic Bottom Water appears to have been crucial for the rise in atmospheric CO2 toward the end of the last Ice Age.
From Science Daily
He’ll need it—for on the current trajectory, Russian troops will continue to proceed at a glacial place.
These indicators of past glacial activity, along with Coloe Fossae and the surrounding craters, are visible in the annotated images.
From Science Daily
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.
