Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Completely cold; having lost all warmth: Describes something, typically a liquid or object, that has cooled to the temperature of its surroundings and is no longer warm at all.
   • Utterly, completely (in a figurative sense): Used as an intensifier before another adjective to mean "totally" or "absolutely," often implying an unfeeling or rigid quality.

Usage Examples

• Literal meaning (completely cold):
  • She left her tea on the table, and an hour later it was stone-cold.
  • The pizza, forgotten in the box, was stone-cold by dinner time.
• Figurative/Intensifier meaning (utterly):
  • After hearing the news, he was stone-cold sober.
  • The assassin was described as a stone-cold killer.

Advanced Usage

• "stone-cold sober": Completely not under the influence of alcohol.
  • Despite the party, he decided to stay stone-cold sober to drive everyone home.
• "stone-cold fox" (slang): A very attractive person.
  • In his youth, he was considered a stone-cold fox.

Variants and Related Words

• Stone-cold is a compound adjective. Its form is typically hyphenated.
• Stone cold (adverbial phrase): Can be used after a linking verb like "turn" or "go."
  • The soup will go stone cold if you don't eat it now.

Synonyms

• Ice-cold: Very cold, like ice.
• Chilled: Cooled, often deliberately.
• Completely cold: The most direct synonym for the literal meaning.
• Dead cold: An informal synonym emphasizing a total lack of warmth.

Related Phrases

• Stone-cold silence: A complete and often uncomfortable absence of sound or conversation.
  • His controversial remark was met with stone-cold silence.
• Out stone-cold (informal): Unconscious, often from alcohol or a blow.
  • After the boxing match, the contender was out stone-cold.

Adjective

1. completely cold
   • by the time he got back to his coffee it was stone-cold