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
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.
Not only has a slew of HR complaints tempered her icy remarks, but slashed budgets and declining readership have forced her hand.
From Salon • May 6, 2026
All aboard the SS “Titanique,” a Broadway pleasure cruise traveling through some notoriously icy waterways.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
IKATEQ, Greenland—Deep in a remote fjord in Greenland, hundreds of rusty fuel drums known locally as “American flowers” litter the icy wilderness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
In fact, pedestrians on Singapore's streets will often find themselves blasted with a shock of icy cold air as they walk past entrances to malls and department stores.
From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026
An icy cold was spreading in the pit of her stomach.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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.
