Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Jump To:
  • stone-cold
    stone-cold
    adjective
    completely cold
  • stone cold
    stone cold
    Unfeeling, insensible, as in That sad story left her stone cold. This analogy was already used by Shakespeare in Henry V (2:3): “Cold as any stone.”

stone-cold

British  

adjective

  1. completely cold

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. (intensifier)

    stone-cold sober

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
stone cold Idioms  
  1. Unfeeling, insensible, as in That sad story left her stone cold. This analogy was already used by Shakespeare in Henry V (2:3): “Cold as any stone.”


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.

Michael Jackson’s celebrity is so blinding, his music so compelling, that it cloaks him with an almost impenetrable shield from the truth: He was a stone cold pedophile.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026

There was an ambivalent, if not stone cold, attitude towards the beefy Californian.

From BBC • Sep. 25, 2025

“To be 21 years old coming in and be stone cold at the plate - I’ve never seen someone come up here and not chase pitches around the zone.”

From Washington Times • Oct. 8, 2023

“To be 21 years old coming in and be stone cold at the plate — I’ve never seen someone come up here and not chase pitches around the zone.”

From Seattle Times • Oct. 7, 2023

She takes a sip of her tea, now stone cold.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember "stone-cold" for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com