FRIGID

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does frigid mean? 

• FRIGID (adjective)
  The adjective FRIGID has 3 senses:

1. sexually unresponsive

2. extremely cold

3. devoid of warmth and cordiality; expressive of unfriendliness or disdain

  Familiarity information: FRIGID used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FRIGID (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sexually unresponsive

Synonyms:

cold; frigid

Context example:

a frigid woman

Similar:

unloving (not giving or reciprocating affection)

Derivation:

frigidity; frigidness (sexual unresponsiveness (especially of women) and inability to achieve orgasm during intercourse)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Extremely cold

Synonyms:

arctic; frigid; gelid; glacial; icy; polar

Context example:

polar weather

Similar:

cold (having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Devoid of warmth and cordiality; expressive of unfriendliness or disdain

Synonyms:

frigid; frosty; frozen; glacial; icy; wintry

Context example:

wintry smile

Similar:

cold (extended meanings; especially of psychological coldness; without human warmth or emotion)

Derivation:

frigidity; frigidness (a lack of affection or enthusiasm)

 Context examples 

He was decidedly frigid in his manner to us, especially when he heard the errand upon which we had come.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Their unusual bodies are designed to withstand frigid temperatures and extreme pressure.

(Three New Species of Fish Found at Bottom of Pacific Ocean, VOA)

Previously it wasn't clear if the dark material was liquid or merely saturated sediment — which at Titan's frigid temperatures would be made of ice, not rock.

(Cassini Finds Flooded Canyons on Titan, NASA)

Pluto's moons are in the same frigid environment.

(Cracks in Pluto's moon could indicate it once had an underground ocean, NASA)

Sea ice regrows during the frigid fall and winter months, when the sun is below the horizon in the Arctic.

(Arctic Sea Ice Annual Minimum Ties Second Lowest on Record, NASA)

Under the long, oily outer coat is a dense wooly undercoat for protection in frigid water.

(Otterhound, NCI Thesaurus)

I saw her in a black gown and widow's cap; frigid, perhaps, but not uncivil: a model of elderly English respectability.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But at Titan's frigid surface temperatures — roughly minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit — liquid methane and ethane, rather than water, dominate Titan's hydrocarbon equivalent of Earth's water.

(The Mysterious 'Lakes' on Saturn's Moon Titan, NASA)

University of Arizona scientists trekked across the Americas: from moist, tropical jungles of Panama to the frigid boreal forests of Colorado to the wet temperate forests of the Pacific Northwest.

(From tropical to boreal ecosystems, temperature drives functioning, National Science Foundation)

He had made up his mind to his course of action, and his frigid lips and cheeks crackled into a chuckle over it.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)