refrigerator
Americannoun
-
refrigerators
plural
-
a box, room, or cabinet in which food, drink, etc., are kept cool by means of ice or mechanical refrigeration.
-
the part of a distilling apparatus that cools the volatile material, causing it to condense; condenser; rectifier.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of refrigerator
First recorded in 1605–15; refrigerate + -or 2
Explanation
A refrigerator is a kitchen appliance where you can store your perishable food at a cool temperature. You should store your milk and meat in the refrigerator to keep them from spoiling. The term refrigerator is often shortened to fridge, and because of this, people often mistakenly try to spell refrigerator with a d. Refrigerators come in all sizes, from a small cube that is often used in college dorm rooms by students trying to keep a six-pack of soda cool, to a huge walk-in refrigerator that might be used at a restaurant to cool all the ingredients for the week's meals.
Vocabulary lists containing refrigerator
Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Unit 9
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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:
"I mean, seriously? I don't want AI worms in my refrigerator."
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Yellow caution tape fluttered in the wind as water poured into a room strewn with wooden debris, an upturned refrigerator and a television.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026
I learned my lesson after a heat wave in Davis, Calif.: A power surge from an exploding transformer fried the circuit board of my refrigerator.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
When Mom needed a new refrigerator, I bought it and told her not to worry about paying me back.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
I want to tell her I saw her receipt to P.J.’s in the refrigerator, stuck to the empty carton of orange juice.
From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist
While most people have likely never heard of an actuator, they’re found across daily life — used in everything from smartphones and computers to refrigerators and cars, to convert power into motion.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
The units contained amenities including air conditioners, big-screen televisions, refrigerators, sofas and dining areas.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Reconsider your “smart” home: Cameras are becoming more and more common in home appliances, including in smart ovens, refrigerators, doorbells, and toothbrushes—even as people decry surveillance measures in public.
From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2026
For instance, the plane doesn’t have enough refrigerators to store large quantities of food, meaning the president’s meals would need to be transported on different aircraft on long trips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
I once heard him explaining vigorously and quite unselfconsciously to Marion what he thought ought to be done to people who stole food from house refrigerators.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
