adjective
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made of, covered with, or containing ice
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resembling ice
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freezing or very cold
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cold or reserved in manner; aloof
Other Word Forms
Adjective Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of icy
before 900; Middle English isy, Old English īsig. See ice, -y 1
Explanation
Something that's icy is frozen like ice or covered in ice. A winter road could be icy; and, if you give someone an icy stare, they are going to feel like hitting the road. Use the adjective icy to describe your town's slippery sidewalks in the winter or the frosty peas you just removed from the freezer. You can also describe very cold conditions as icy: "I'm putting my long underwear on — it's icy out there!" When a person is icy, they are aloof and unemotional, as opposed to warm and friendly. This figurative meaning has been around since the late 1500s.
Vocabulary lists containing icy
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:
Known as contrails, these icy clouds contribute to climate change, and scientists have been trying to work out how to stop them.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
She was even better at playing the popular mean girl who lets her icy walls melt away to welcome in the new girl.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Sea Legend plans eight voyages between August and late October, before conditions get too icy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
That combination is especially puzzling because icy material is abundant throughout this region of the solar system.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
I felt my blood go icy in my veins, and I turned the letter back over, looking again at my name in my handwriting.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
What killed in Austin drew a decidedly icier reception in Boston.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
A year later 26 FIS events were canceled, Scott said, many because of dangerous conditions caused in part by the artificial snow, which is generally icier and harder than the natural snow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
But as harp seals move north to colder, icier habitats, such as off Baffin Island, they may face a new threat: polar bears.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 23, 2024
In more frigid and icier environments, they depended more on animals and fish.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Even packed together in the wagon, with woolen blankets to our noses, we are certain to be icier than the inside of Logan's icehouse!
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
"That day will come as surely as spring comes after even the iciest of winters," he insisted from the dock, addressing anyone who might hear, against all the odds.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2023
His final trek to history began under the iciest conditions.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 5, 2023
The new study indicates that one of the world’s coldest and iciest regions has already hit that threshold.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 20, 2023
Its location, nearly 10,000 feet down in waters that are among the iciest on Earth, placed it among the most celebrated shipwrecks that had not been found.
From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2022
I shot Mom the iciest look I could give.
From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez
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.
