refrigerate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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refrigerationnoun
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nonrefrigeratedadjective
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refrigerativeadjective
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refrigeratoryadjective
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unrefrigeratedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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refrigeratesimple
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refrigeratessimple
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have refrigeratedperfect
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has refrigeratedperfect
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am refrigeratingprogressive
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are refrigeratingprogressive
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is refrigeratingprogressive
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have been refrigeratingperfect progressive
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has been refrigeratingperfect progressive
Past
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refrigeratedsimple
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had refrigeratedperfect
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was refrigeratingprogressive
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were refrigeratingprogressive
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had been refrigeratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of refrigerate
1525–35; < Latin refrīgerātus, past participle of refrīgerāre to make cool, equivalent to re- re- + frīgerāre to make cool, derivative of frīgus cold; see -ate 1
Explanation
To refrigerate something is to preserve it by keeping it cool. A gallon of milk might last a week if you refrigerate it, but it will be spoiled after a day or so if you leave it on the kitchen counter. At home, you refrigerate things all the time by keeping them in your refrigerator. If there's no refrigerator available, people can refrigerate things by storing them in coolers or outside in the cold months of the year. A recipe for cookies might instruct you to refrigerate them for an hour before baking them — all you have to do is put the baking sheet in the fridge. Refrigerate shares a Latin root with frigid.
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:
“Because lithium-ion needs to actively cool, you’re basically paying to refrigerate your batteries or using energy to refrigerate your batteries, and we don’t need any of that stuff,” said Mossburg.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
“LNG plants are very electricity-intensive because of the need to refrigerate and freeze the gas,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
One bowl, two at the most, stir a few things together, pop it in the oven or often just refrigerate and you are done.
From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2024
Finally, Van Rein said, refrigerate leftovers immediately or discard them.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2024
Think of the electricity bill to refrigerate a 200,000-square-foot plant.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
He mentioned a machine that refrigerates and pumps ayran, a salty yogurt drink popular across Asia and Eastern Europe, which the group installed at an exhibition in Hanover, Germany.
From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2022
She refrigerates half-consumed bottles, determined never to waste a drop.
From Washington Post ● May 18, 2022
To quell this thermodynamic threat, data centers overwhelmingly rely on air conditioning, a mechanical process that refrigerates the gaseous medium of air, so that it can displace or lift perilous heat away from computers.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 1, 2022
Pilapaña manages to concentrate guinea pig flavor after cooking and preparing a pate from the animal’s flesh, adds milk or cream and refrigerates the concoction until it has the rough consistency of ice cream.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 4, 2019
Pluralistic moralism simply makes their teeth chatter, it refrigerates the very heart within their breast.
From Pragmatism by James, William
Each new shipment of sod that arrived in refrigerated trucks costs about $250,000 — and teams likely would have to replace that sod at least once during an NFL season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Ads on “cooler screens,” i.e., digital ads projected on the doors of refrigerated cases in supermarkets, get a much chillier reception, with 41% of respondents viewing them negatively, the report found.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
The fruit is pre-cooled for five hours before being packed and transported in refrigerated vans and then stored in cold rooms before being air freighted.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
I’m talking about cottage cheese, the curd-filled dairy product that sits alongside yogurt, butter and milk in the refrigerated section of your local grocery store.
From Salon ● May 24, 2026
Gabriel and Allys both got ready-made sandwiches from the refrigerated section.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
Higher fuel prices have increased the cost of transporting and refrigerating perishable foods.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
And what you’re doing when you’re refrigerating warehouses is you’re simply moving heat from inside to outside.
From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2024
Briefly refrigerating the chocolate-coated cereal helps set the chocolate and means you’ll end up with more-distinct pieces with a thinner, more even dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 28, 2022
Also, there is now a reference to refrigerating the sauce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2022
The bigger the refrigerating unit for making beer, and the longer the assembly line for filling bottles with beer, the lower the cost of manufacturing beer.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
