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  • 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.

See Examples For:

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

Why lean into Curry’s “nice guy” off-court image when the man is a stone-cold killer on the court?

From Slate ● Nov. 15, 2025

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

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

I’m not exactly a fan of vertigo-inducing roller coasters, but at least it’s a break from the stone-cold, silent tomb of my house.

From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

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

“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

Ms Hills says there was no heating on the ward, and the radiators were "stone cold".

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2022

There are staircases, also of wood, which creak when we climb them, and banisters we aren’t supposed to slide down, and iron radiators that make banging noises and are either stone cold or blazing hot.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

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