Definition

1. Phrasal Verb (transitive):
   • To exclude someone deliberately from a group, activity, or social interaction, often by being unfriendly or by forming a united front against them. It implies a concerted effort to make someone feel unwelcome or isolated.

Usage

This phrasal verb is used to describe a social action where a person or group intentionally shuts another person out. It is often used in contexts involving social circles, business, teams, or any collaborative environment. The object (the person being excluded) typically comes after the phrase.

Examples

• Phrasal Verb:
  • After the disagreement, the other members tried to freeze him out of the committee's discussions.
  • She felt frozen out by her colleagues when they stopped inviting her to lunch.
  • The older players were accused of freezing out the talented rookie.

Advanced Usage

• Passive Voice: The phrasal verb is commonly used in the passive voice ("to be frozen out") to emphasize the experience of the excluded person.
  • New investors were frozen out of the lucrative deal.
  • He was completely frozen out of the decision-making process.

Variants and Related Words

• Freeze (verb): While the core verb "freeze" can mean to become solid from cold (as in the reference context: ), in the phrasal verb "freeze out," this literal meaning is metaphorically extended to describe creating a "cold" or hostile social environment.
• Freeze-out (noun): The act or instance of excluding someone.
  • The corporate takeover attempt ended in a freeze-out of the minority shareholders.

Synonyms

• Exclude: To deliberately prevent someone from participating.
• Ostracize: To exclude from a society or group.
• Shut out: To prevent someone from entering or being involved.
• Blackball: To reject or exclude someone by voting against them.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Shut out: To prevent someone from entering a place or being part of something. This is a close synonym but can be more general.
  • They shut him out of the negotiations.

Related Idioms

• Give someone the cold shoulder: To intentionally ignore someone or treat them in an unfriendly way. This idiom describes similar behavior but is less formal and does not imply a coordinated group action as strongly as "freeze out."
  • Ever since the argument, she has been giving me the cold shoulder.

Verb

1. change from a liquid to a solid when cold
   • Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit