Frosty Meaning
/ˈfɹɒsti/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjCold, chilly; icy.
adjHaving frost on it or in it.
Sentence Examples
He breathed in the frosty air.
My questions were met with a frosty silence.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ morning left a layer of ice on the car windows.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The morning was cold and ____, with the low sun casting long shadows across the white fields.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English frosty, forsty, from Old English forstiġ, fyrstiġ (“frosty”), from Proto-West Germanic *frostag, *frustīg, By surface analysis, frost + -y. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian froastich (“frosty”), Dutch vorstig (“frosty”), German Low German fröstig (“frosty”), German frostig (“frosty”), Swedish frostig (“frosty”). Compare also Saterland Frisian froasterch (“frosty”), German Low German frösterg (“frosty”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"It was late at night and frosty[.]"
— 1973, Patsy Adam Smith, The Barcoo Salute, Adelaide: Rigby, page 2:
"During the frostiest days of the Cold War, avoiding the Soviet Bloc meant flying north around Greenland to Alaska, refueling in Anchorage, and then around the Bering Straits to reach Japan."
— 2022 February 26, John Walton, “How the Ukraine conflict could redraw the world air map”, in CNN, archived from the original on 26 Feb 2022:
"In scented, frilly boutiques that she seemed to find by instinct, they exchanged her battered wardrobe for fur capes and Anna Karenina riding boots that slithered on the frosty cobble, and Pym's dismal school habit for a leather jacket and trousers without buttons for his braces."
— 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
"Chilly from the start, she grows ever frostier as the book proceeds, partly because Mr. Martin has difficulty translating her sexual abandon to anything beyond “sexual due process.”"
— 2010 November 28, Janet Maslin, “A New York Tale of Art, Money and Ambition”, in The New York Times:
"Network Rail had previously been reported to be frosty about reopening the South Sub [South Suburban Railway] to passenger traffic - but things appear to have changed."
— 2025 November 26, Conrad Landin, “Edinburgh eyes on tram-trains?”, in RAIL, number 1049, pages 34-35:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ morning left a layer of ice on the car windows.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The morning was cold and ____, with the low sun casting long shadows across the white fields.