stone-cold

British

adjective

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

(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

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.

He was beaten by McIlroy in a play-off last year, but put himself in position to avenge that defeat as McIlroy's stone-cold putter loosened his grip on the tournament.

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026

One way to view the meteoric growth of women’s college basketball is through the career arc of its current protagonist: Caitlin Clark, the University of Iowa’s stone-cold mad bomber.

From New York Times • Apr. 2, 2024

And Cherundolo has gotten them here with a breezy manner and an impish smile masking the competitive soul of a stone-cold killer.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2023

Everything from stone-cold classics like "Where the Red Fern Grows" to the latest "Babysitter's Club" release, to be devoured in a day.

From Salon • Oct. 23, 2023

Dreamed it, and woke in a stone-cold fright.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023