Freezing vs. Cold — What's the Difference?

Freezing is a phase transition where a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. In accordance with the internationally established definition, freezing means the solidification phase change of a liquid or the liquid content of a substance, usually due to cooling.

Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception.

To pass from the liquid to the solid state by loss of heat.

Having a low temperature

To acquire a surface or coat of ice from cold

Being at a temperature that is less than what is required or what is normal

To become clogged or jammed because of the formation of ice

Chilled by refrigeration or ice

To be at that degree of temperature at which ice forms

Feeling no warmth; uncomfortably chilled

To be killed or harmed by cold or frost

Appearing to be dead; unconscious

To be or feel uncomfortably cold

Dead

To become fixed, stuck, or attached by or as if by frost

Lacking emotion; objective

To stop functioning properly, usually temporarily

Having little appeal to the senses or feelings

To become motionless or immobile, as from surprise or attentiveness

Designating or being in a tone or color, such as pale gray, that suggests little warmth.

To become unable to act or speak, as from fear

Not affectionate or friendly; aloof

To become rigid and inflexible; solidify

Exhibiting or feeling no enthusiasm

To convert into ice.

Devoid of sexual desire; frigid.

To cause ice to form upon.

Having lost all freshness or vividness through passage of time

To cause to congeal or stiffen from extreme cold

So intense as to be almost uncontrollable

To preserve (foods, for example) by subjecting to freezing temperatures.

Characterized by repeated failure, especially in a sport or competitive activity

To damage, kill, or make inoperative by cold or by the formation of ice.

To an unqualified degree; totally

To make very cold; chill.

With complete finality

To immobilize, as with fear or shock.

Without advance preparation or introduction

To chill with an icy or formal manner

Relative lack of warmth

To stop the motion or progress of

The sensation resulting from lack of warmth; chill.

To fix (prices or wages, for example) at a given or current level.

A condition of low air temperature; cold weather

To prohibit further manufacture or use of.

A viral infection characterized by inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the upper respiratory passages and usually accompanied by malaise, fever, chills, coughing, and sneezing. Also called common cold, coryza.

To prevent or restrict the exchange, withdrawal, liquidation, or granting of by governmental action

(of a thing) Having a low temperature.

To anesthetize by chilling.

(of the weather) Causing the air to be cold.

(Sports) To keep possession of (a ball or puck) so as to deny an opponent the opportunity to score.

(of a person or animal) Feeling the sensation of coldness, especially to the point of discomfort.

The act of freezing.

Unfriendly; emotionally distant or unfeeling.

The state of being frozen.

Dispassionate; not prejudiced or partisan; impartial.

A spell of cold weather; a frost.

Completely unprepared; without introduction.

A restriction that forbids a quantity from rising above a given or current level

Unconscious or deeply asleep; deprived of the metaphorical heat associated with life or consciousness.

(literally) Suffering or causing frost

(usually with "have" or "know" transitively) Perfectly, exactly, completely; by heart; down pat.

Very cold

(usually with "have" transitively) Cornered; done for.

Zero °C, the freezing point of water.

(obsolete) Not pungent or acrid.

The change in state of a substance from liquid to solid by cooling to a critically low temperature.

(obsolete) Unexciting; dull; uninteresting.

The action of numbing with anesthetics.

Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) only feebly; having lost its odour.

Present participle of freeze

(obsolete) Not sensitive; not acute.

Tending to freeze; for freezing; hence, cold or distant in manner.

Distant; said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed. Compare warm and hot.

The withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid

(painting) Having a bluish effect; not warm in colour.

(databases) Rarely used or accessed, and thus able to be relegated to slower storage.

(informal) Without compassion; heartless; ruthless.

(informal) Not radioactive.

(firearm) Not loaded with a round of live ammunition.

Without electrical power being supplied.

A condition of low temperature.

A harsh place; a place of abandonment.

(medicine) A common, usually harmless, viral illness, usually with congestion of the nasal passages and sometimes fever.

(slang) rheum, sleepy dust

At a low temperature.

Without preparation.

In a cold, frank, or realistically honest manner.

Deprived of heat, or having a low temperature; not warm or hot; gelid; frigid.

Lacking the sensation of warmth; suffering from the absence of heat; chilly; shivering; as, to be cold.

Not pungent or acrid.

Wanting in ardor, intensity, warmth, zeal, or passion; spiritless; unconcerned; reserved.

Unwelcome; disagreeable; unsatisfactory.

Wanting in power to excite; dull; uninteresting.

Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) but feebly; having lost its odor; as, a cold scent.

Not sensitive; not acute.

Distant; - said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed.

Having a bluish effect. Cf. Warm, 8.

The relative absence of heat or warmth.

The sensation produced by the escape of heat; chilliness or chillness.

A morbid state of the animal system produced by exposure to cold or dampness; a catarrh.

To become cold.

A mild viral infection involving the nose and respiratory passages (but not the lungs);

The absence of heat;

The sensation produced by low temperatures;

Used of physical coldness; having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration;

Extended meanings; especially of psychological coldness; without human warmth or emotion;

Having lost freshness through passage of time;

(color) giving no sensation of warmth;

Marked by errorless familiarity;

No longer new; uninteresting;

So intense as to be almost uncontrollable;

Sexually unresponsive;

Without compunction or human feeling;

Feeling or showing no enthusiasm;

Unconscious from a blow or shock or intoxication;

Of a seeker; far from the object sought

Lacking the warmth of life;