icicle
Americannoun
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a pendent, tapering mass of ice formed by the freezing of dripping water.
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a thin strip of paper, plastic, or foil, usually silvery, for hanging on a Christmas tree as decoration.
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a cold, unemotional person.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of icicle
before 1000; Middle English isikel, Old English īsgicel, equivalent to īs ice + gicel icicle; akin to Old Norse jǫkul mass of ice, glacier
Explanation
An icicle is a long thin piece of ice formed when dripping water freezes, like the icicles you see hanging from houses after a winter storm. Icicle rhymes with bicycle. Under certain conditions, snow or ice will form into icicles. On a winter day, the sun melts snow or ice which begins to drip, especially from the edge of a roof. The melting water then refreezes, slowly building up to form a long, tapered shape. Icicle is slang for a person who is emotionally cold, like the icicle of a friend who ignores you when you need some moral support.
Vocabulary lists containing icicle
Wintry Words
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Shiloh
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Week 2 Spelling
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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:
In the lounge, where Pike and his roommate host dinner parties, icicle lights hang from the ceiling and cases of Coca-Cola are stored in a corner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Drops will continue to run down the icicle, freezing at the end, to give the icicle its distinctive shape.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2025
There were icicle lights outside their rural Georgia home, garland on the banister and stockings hanging above the fireplace.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 21, 2023
Ice is rigid and brittle — it would be astonishing to bend an icicle around a softball and have it spring back to its original straight shape.
From New York Times ● Jul. 8, 2021
I make for the exit, and in the city wind I’m an instant icicle, a Nate-pop, and duck back into the store to throw my jeans on over my flag-size shorts.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
The persistent plunk, plunk, plunk of icicles dripping into an aluminum gutter — a sound that is less birdsong than plumbing.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026
Antony Newby was visiting the area near Winnats Pass on Saturday when he spotted a tree shrouded in icicles.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2025
Climbers began to haul themselves up frozen waterfalls and dangling icicles, carving out a discipline separate from mountaineering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2024
In the distance, at the back of the stage, a wall glows with wisps and slivers of light in formations evoking icicles or feathery cobwebs.
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2023
The icicles hanging in the open entrance glittered.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
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.
