perishingly cold
1
7.2
- adjective
- Informal
- Camping was difficult because the nights became perishingly cold after sunset.
Examples
-
She forgot her gloves, so her hands were perishingly cold during the walk.
-
It was perishingly cold last night!
-
We waited for the bus in the perishingly cold wind for nearly an hour.
-
We went outside, but it was perishingly cold.
-
The wind was so strong that the air felt perishingly cold as we walked outside.
-
After a long day in the snow, I couldn't believe how perishingly cold it was at night.
-
The perishingly cold temperatures made staying indoors the only option for the weekend.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Having a low temperature that feels chilly
156
1.0
So cold that water turns to ice
112
1.0
A bit cold in a way that feels uncomfortable
91
1.0
Very cold with surfaces covered in ice
42
1.0
Very cold, like frozen water
34
4.1
Very cold, like ice or freezing air
25
1.3
Very cold, at or below freezing
22
4.1
Very cold with no warmth left
17
1.0
Cold, often with a thin layer of ice on the ground
13
4.5
Very cold, like the weather near the North Pole
6
7.0
Very cold or scary
5
5.0
Cold wet weather that feels unpleasant
1
9.9
Very cold in a way that feels unpleasant
1
9.9
People say this to mean very cold in a joking, exaggerated way
1
5.5
Very cold in behavior, showing no warmth or friendliness
1
5.6
Much colder than normal, for example in special freezers or very cold weather
1
6.8
Very cold, often with a strong wind
1
4.7
Very low in temperature and clearly unfriendly
1
9.1
Feeling quite cold, often said about the weather
1
7.0
Very cold and painfully sharp, like wind that hurts skin
Antonyms
How Cold
Surface Forms
Morphology
perishingly + cold
The adjective phrase is transparently built from the adverbial intensifier 'perishingly' (derived from 'perish', i.e. to die) plus 'cold', so the sense is literally 'so cold one might perish' → 'extremely/unbearably cold'. This morphological intensification pattern is straightforward and cross‑linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase perishingly cold comes from the old verb perish, which meant 'to die'. It creates the image of weather so severe it could make you die, so today it is used to mean 'extremely cold'.