adjective
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made of, covered with, or containing ice
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resembling ice
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freezing or very cold
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cold or reserved in manner; aloof
Etymology
Origin of icy
before 900; Middle English isy, Old English īsig. See ice, -y 1
Explanation
Something that's icy is frozen like ice or covered in ice. A winter road could be icy; and, if you give someone an icy stare, they are going to feel like hitting the road. Use the adjective icy to describe your town's slippery sidewalks in the winter or the frosty peas you just removed from the freezer. You can also describe very cold conditions as icy: "I'm putting my long underwear on — it's icy out there!" When a person is icy, they are aloof and unemotional, as opposed to warm and friendly. This figurative meaning has been around since the late 1500s.
Vocabulary lists containing icy
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.
Clutching a mysterious tool the shape of a mouse coffin, Firth’s villain tracks Daniel’s location by mentally transplanting himself into another person’s body, changing the color of their pupils to his own icy blue.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
Since then, his stunningly well-preserved remains have been kept at the same temperature -- minus six degrees Celsius -- as his icy tomb.
From Barron's • Jun. 3, 2026
Nobody survived and HMS Erebus's exact fate remained unknown until 2014, when its wreckage was uncovered in the icy waters of northern Canada.
From BBC • May 26, 2026
They formed closer to the Sun early in the solar system's history and are generally dry, rocky bodies without the icy material that produces comet tails.
From Science Daily • May 14, 2026
He tried to picture her ancestors trudging across that icy bridge.
From "I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964" by Lauren Tarshis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
