cool
Americanadjective
-
cooler,
comparative
-
coolest
superlative
-
moderately cold; neither warm nor cold.
a rather cool evening.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
feeling comfortably or moderately cold.
I'm perfectly cool, but open the window if you feel hot.
-
imparting a sensation of moderate coldness or comfortable freedom from heat.
a cool breeze.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
permitting such a sensation.
a cool dress.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
not excited; calm; composed; under control.
to remain cool in the face of disaster.
- Synonyms:
- quiet, placid, unruffled, self-possessed, collected
-
not hasty; deliberate.
a cool and calculated action.
-
lacking in interest or enthusiasm.
a cool reply to an invitation.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
lacking in warmth or cordiality.
a cool reception.
- Antonyms:
- warm
-
calmly audacious or impudent.
a cool lie.
-
aloof or unresponsive; indifferent.
He was cool to her passionate advances.
-
unaffected by emotions; disinterested; dispassionate.
She made a cool appraisal of all the issues in the dispute.
-
Informal. (of a number or sum) without exaggeration or qualification.
a cool million dollars.
-
(of colors) with green, blue, or violet predominating.
-
Slang.
-
great; fine; excellent.
a real cool comic.
-
characterized by great facility; highly skilled or clever.
cool maneuvers on the parallel bars.
-
socially adept.
It's not cool to arrive at a party too early.
-
acceptable; satisfactory; okay.
If you want to stay late, that's cool.
-
adverb
interjection
noun
-
something that is cool; a cool part, place, time, etc..
in the cool of the evening.
-
coolness.
-
calmness; composure; poise.
an executive noted for maintaining her cool under pressure.
verb (used without object)
-
cools,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cooled,
past participle, past
-
cooling
present participle
-
to become cool (sometimes followed by down oroff ).
The soup cooled in five minutes. We cooled off in the mountain stream.
-
to become less ardent, cordial, etc.; become moderate.
verb (used with object)
-
cools,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cooled,
past participle, past
-
cooling
present participle
verb phrase
-
cool off to become calmer or more reasonable.
Wait until he cools off before you talk to him again.
-
cool down. see cooldown.
-
cool out to calm or settle down; relax.
cooling out at the beach.
adjective
-
moderately cold
a cool day
-
comfortably free of heat
a cool room
-
producing a pleasant feeling of coldness
a cool shirt
-
able to conceal emotion; calm
a cool head
-
lacking in enthusiasm, affection, cordiality, etc
a cool welcome
-
calmly audacious or impudent
-
informal (esp of numbers, sums of money, etc) without exaggeration; actual
a cool ten thousand
-
(of a colour) having violet, blue, or green predominating; cold
-
(of jazz) characteristic of the late 1940s and early 1950s, economical and rhythmically relaxed
-
informal sophisticated or elegant, esp in an unruffled way
-
informal excellent; marvellous
adverb
noun
-
coolness
the cool of the evening
-
slang calmness; composure (esp in the phrases keep or lose one's cool )
-
slang unruffled elegance or sophistication
verb
-
to make or become cooler
-
to lessen the intensity of (anger or excitement) or (of anger or excitement) to become less intense; calm down
-
slang (usually imperative) to calm down; take it easy
-
to wait or be kept waiting
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
coolingnessnoun
-
coolnessnoun
-
overcoolnessnoun
-
recoolverb
-
subcoolverb (used with object)
-
coolishadjective
-
overcooladjective
-
ultracooladjective
-
uncooledadjective
-
well-cooledadjective
-
coolinglyadverb
-
coollyadverb
-
overcoollyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
coolsimple
-
coolssimple
-
have cooledperfect
-
has cooledperfect
-
am coolingprogressive
-
are coolingprogressive
-
is coolingprogressive
-
have been coolingperfect progressive
-
has been coolingperfect progressive
Past
-
cooledsimple
-
had cooledperfect
-
was coolingprogressive
-
were coolingprogressive
-
had been coolingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cool
First recorded before 1000; Middle English col, coul, Old English cลl; cognate with Middle Low German kลl, Old High German kuoli, German kรผhl; see cold, chill
Explanation
When the weather is cool, it's not quite cold but not warm either. When people are cool, they're mellow and in control. Cool has many meanings. When the weather goes from 70 degrees to 50, it cooled off. A winning pool player who starts losing also cools off. Drinking lemonade on a hot day is yet another way to cool off. When you lose your temper, you lose your cool. Hot cookies should cool before you eat them. Something fashionable is cool, but if you're cool to an idea, you're not so sure about it. Any situation that becomes less intense has cooled.
Vocabulary lists containing cool
Words for Cheese Writers
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Visual Arts - Introductory
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Visual Arts - High School
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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:
A little over a half-decade later, the onetime crucible of downtown cool sold for more than $2 billion to the parent company of Vans and North Face; the brand equity that “Cherry” contributed was incalculable.
From Los Angeles Times โ Sep. 7, 2026
The computers get hot, and keeping them cool takes water.
From Barron's โ Sep. 7, 2026
In turn, Williamsburg has been sapped of all its affordability, and increasingly, its cool factor.
From Slate โ Sep. 6, 2026
For others, their reason for moving to prediction markets is brutally direct: Crypto, they say, is no longer cool.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Sep. 5, 2026
As we tied the halter ropes of the mares to the gum tree, Grandpa said, “As thirsty as I am, I think I’d walk a mile for a cool drink.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
She said the summer's heatwaves had been "tough", but they were hoping for a cooler, wetter autumn, with the reserve braced for flood events and "saline surges" with seasonal tides.
From BBC โ Sep. 6, 2026
These aren’t even movies that you’d bring to the water cooler, lest you want a conversation with a coworker to fall flat after 10 seconds.
From Salon โ Sep. 2, 2026
The contradiction between a relatively warm early Earth and a cooler, dimmer Sun is known as the Faint Young Sun paradox.
From Science Daily โ Sep. 2, 2026
The National Weather Service’s Bay Area office said in its Tuesday afternoon forecast that it expected cooler than average temperatures and a deepening marine layer to result in “improved overnight humidity recoveries through Friday.”
From Los Angeles Times โ Sep. 2, 2026
Fred pulled back and tried to hide behind a water cooler.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
"Radial glia are the coolest cells that have ever existed," said Aparna Bhaduri, an assistant professor of biological chemistry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
From Science Daily โ Sep. 4, 2026
“Definitely the coolest sound healing experience I’ve been to,” said Kenny Mayo, 35, after the sound bath.
From Los Angeles Times โ Aug. 28, 2026
Among the more popular indicators monitored by Wall Street’s technical strategists, the “Hindenburg Omen” definitely has the coolest name.
From MarketWatch โ Aug. 15, 2026
But, he added, “it can still be one of the coolest places on the planet.”
From The Wall Street Journal โ Jul. 6, 2026
Every afternoon she has us put on our coolest dresses and run away from our malignant house.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Faraday Future’s trajectory mirrors Tesla’s — they’re both tech-focused EV companies that are transitioning to AI and robotics as the EV market cools.
From Los Angeles Times โ Sep. 3, 2026
While this supports economic activity, if and when the rally cools, households will be obliged to save more.
From MarketWatch โ Aug. 17, 2026
Companies have slowed hiring and total payrolls shrank last month as demand for labor cools.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Aug. 13, 2026
It was built with an air-to-air heat pump that cools the building, and vents to let hot air escape.
From BBC โ Aug. 3, 2026
As the chocolate cools, it holds the vanilla goodness prisoner.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Seven months have passed and tensions have cooled somewhat.
From Barron's โ Sep. 7, 2026
Cutting back on water use usually means more power as the liquid in those sealed pipes still has to be cooled down somehow, usually by blowing air over it -- and that takes electricity.
From Barron's โ Sep. 7, 2026
Victoria’s Secret once again boosted its full-year outlook, pointing to progress against its turnaround plan, even as second-quarter sales growth cooled.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Sep. 4, 2026
It was a sign of how the Manchester United and Arsenal rivalry had cooled.
From BBC โ Sep. 3, 2026
A refreshing breeze cooled the room, and he was comfortable.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
Another avenue being explored is the idea that Greenland, with its ice sheet and frigid turquoise waters, could host data centres, which require extensive cooling, to power artificial intelligence.
From Barron's โ Sep. 7, 2026
The centers require intense cooling, which often demands high water and power use and creates the potential to affect the environment and to pass on utility costs to consumers.
From Los Angeles Times โ Sep. 6, 2026
Swiss inflation jumped in August, reversing several months of cooling price growth as renewed tensions in the Middle East pushed global energy costs higher.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Sep. 3, 2026
Electricity, cooling and maintenance add roughly 10% to the cost of owning, whichever way you run the machine.
From MarketWatch โ Sep. 3, 2026
General Baligant’s army is already most of the way to the border, cooling their heels and dusting their epaulets while they wait for your orders.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, ยฉ Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritageยฎ Idioms Dictionary copyright ยฉ 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
