| / English Dictionary |
COLDNESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A lack of affection or enthusiasm
Example:
a distressing coldness of tone and manner
Synonyms:
chilliness; coldness; coolness; frigidity; frigidness; iciness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("coldness" is a kind of...):
emotionlessness; unemotionality (absence of emotion)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "coldness"):
stone (a lack of feeling or expression or movement)
lukewarmness; tepidness (lack of passion, force or animation)
Derivation:
cold (feeling or showing no enthusiasm)
cold (extended meanings; especially of psychological coldness; without human warmth or emotion)
cold (sexually unresponsive)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The absence of heat
Example:
cold is a vasoconstrictor
Synonyms:
cold; coldness; frigidity; frigidness; low temperature
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("coldness" is a kind of...):
pressor; vasoconstrictive; vasoconstrictor (any agent that causes a narrowing of an opening of a blood vessel: cold or stress or nicotine or epinephrine or norepinephrine or angiotensin or vasopressin or certain drugs; maintains or increases blood pressure)
temperature (the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment (corresponding to its molecular activity))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "coldness"):
chill; gelidity; iciness (coldness due to a cold environment)
chilliness; coolness; nip (the property of being moderately cold)
frostiness (coldness as evidenced by frost)
cool (the quality of being at a refreshingly low temperature)
Antonym:
hotness (the presence of heat)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The sensation produced by low temperatures
Example:
the cold helped clear his head
Synonyms:
cold; coldness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("coldness" is a kind of...):
temperature (the somatic sensation of cold or heat)
Derivation:
cold (having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration)
Context examples:
“It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter,” I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my friend’s singular character.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He saw Mrs. Rushworth, was received by her with a coldness which ought to have been repulsive, and have established apparent indifference between them for ever; but he was mortified, he could not bear to be thrown off by the woman whose smiles had been so wholly at his command: he must exert himself to subdue so proud a display of resentment; it was anger on Fanny's account; he must get the better of it, and make Mrs. Rushworth Maria Bertram again in her treatment of himself.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I rushed towards her and embraced her with ardour, but the deadly languor and coldness of the limbs told me that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
She saw that he saw Elizabeth, that Elizabeth saw him, that there was complete internal recognition on each side; she was convinced that he was ready to be acknowledged as an acquaintance, expecting it, and she had the pain of seeing her sister turn away with unalterable coldness.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Upon looking round it then, she perceived in a moment that it was the most comfortable room in the world; but she was too guarded to say so, and the coldness of her praise disappointed him.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
I felt a thrill while I answered him; but no coldness, and no faintness.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
“That I want to be satisfied about?” she replied, with provoking coldness.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
And yet I do assure you, replied Lucy, her little sharp eyes full of meaning, there seemed to me to be a coldness and displeasure in your manner that made me quite uncomfortable.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
He thought of the wild delight that would have been his had this happened a few short months before, and he contrasted that delight that should have been with his present uncaring coldness.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
With Tuesday came the agreeable prospect of seeing him again, and for a longer time than hitherto; of judging of his general manners, and by inference, of the meaning of his manners towards herself; of guessing how soon it might be necessary for her to throw coldness into her air; and of fancying what the observations of all those might be, who were now seeing them together for the first time.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
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