ice water

American

noun

water chilled with or as if with ice.
melted ice.

ice water British

noun

water formed from ice
Also called: iced water. drinking water cooled by refrigeration or the addition of ice

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of ice water

First recorded in 1715–25

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.

Videos upon videos of Americans ditching ice water for hot water in the morning, boiling apples into tea, and saying that we have met them “at a very Chinese time” in their lives.

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026

From plunging your face into bowls of ice water to rolling frozen tools across your cheeks, social media is full of quick fixes promising to depuff your face in minutes.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

The bartender even poured me a glass of ice water to go with my $8 beer.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

The hidden image became clear only after the film was placed in ice water or gradually heated.

From Science Daily • Feb. 6, 2026

Half the pleasure was sticking your arm in up to the shirtsleeve and fishing in the ice water for the bottle.

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023