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
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.
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
It's being coined the "icicle kick" - the stunning bicycle kick that lit up the Canadian Premier League final.
From BBC • Nov. 10, 2025
The movie can’t convey her interiority or her eccentricity to the degree that the novel’s first-person chronicle did; here, the recurring significance of a falling icicle, while suggestive, never entirely registers.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2023
“You get that invisible cold icicle that goes through your brain without penetrating your skin.”
From New York Times • Sep. 14, 2022
Once an icicle long as a spear fell to shatter by his feet.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
