to freeze off
1
8.5
- phrasal verb
- /friz ɔf/
- Informal
:
ignorar
- Don't freeze off your friends!
Examples
-
She froze off all her old acquaintances.
-
She decided to freeze off his calls after he continuously ignored her messages.
-
After his rude comment, she completely froze off any further conversation with him.
-
Every time I approached her at work, she would freeze me off without a second thought.
-
He tried to join their circle, but they froze him off with icy indifference.
-
After their argument, he felt like she was trying to freeze off his presence at the party.
-
When she heard the hurtful comments, she felt he had chosen to freeze off their friendship.
Synonyms
312
2.9
Refuse an offer, invitation, or request
51
5.5
To show dislike and no respect for someone or something
26
7.7
To refuse a person or an offer in a rude way
18
7.7
To say no to someone or their offer in a quick rude way
15
6.4
To treat a person or thing as not worthy of respect
3
6.7
To keep someone out of a group by being unfriendly or unfair
2
8.7
Reject someone or something rudely and tell them to go away
2
7.5
To reject someone quickly and rudely
1
7.7
To ignore someone on purpose to show you are angry or unfriendly
Antonyms
How Dismissive
- US
31
7.7
26
4.6
- Informal
1
8.5
7
6.3
- Informal
22
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is a metaphorical extension of 'freeze' (becoming emotionally cold) combined with the particle 'off' (away/removal), so a learner who knows the constituents could plausibly infer a sense of making someone socially distant or dismissing them. However, the specific pragmatic sense of deliberately rejecting or snubbing someone is an extended, idiomatic use of the parts and relies on phrasal-verb/pragmatic knowledge, so it is not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Freeze off comes from the image of being left outside in the cold: to freeze someone with silence and send them off alone. So, to freeze off someone today means to 'reject' or ignore them in a cold, unfriendly way.