glacial pace
1
6.8
- noun
- /ˈɡleɪʃəl peɪs/
- Informal
:
ritmo glacial
- Traffic was moving at a glacial pace during rush hour, causing many drivers to become impatient.
Any of those can slow down your weight loss to a glacial pace which to you will feel like a stall.
- Any of those can slow down your weight loss to a glacial pace which to you will feel like a stall.
- This is your job to do this car tech at the glacial pace.
Examples
-
Girsky is already the chairman of the Opel Supervisory Board, and he's been leading the turnaround effort at Opel, which has been moving at a glacial pace.
Blog text (6) -
At the present-day glacial pace of sales, today's stock of new housing would take about six months to sell off.
Blog text (2) -
Yet given the glacial pace at which global energy systems change, 2050 might as well be tomorrow.
Academic text (2009) -
This is one of the lessons from ST1 we need to address: the glacial pace of some of the projects.
Blog text (19) -
Compared to the progress being made in the European Communities and the needs of business, liberalization of Canadian and U.S. immigration laws for business and professional travel is proceeding at a glacial pace.
Academic text (1990) -
Anyone who is too impatient with the glacial pace of Chinese adjustment must recognize just how difficult it will be for China to quickly reorient its economy towards household consumption.
Blog text (7) -
However, a 2009 study led by University of Wyoming researcher Todd Surovell failed to replicate Firestone's findings at seven Clovis sites, slowing interest and research progress to a glacial pace.
Blog text (20) -
In sum, political development in Dengist China, with its glacial pace and frequent backpedaling, accumulated limited progress -- admittedly marking an observable difference from Maoist China -- but fell far behind its economic development during the same period.
Academic text (1993) -
The development of the new software is happening at a glacial pace, frustrating many of the team members.
-
Despite numerous discussions, the negotiations proceeded at a glacial pace, showing no signs of conclusion.
Synonyms
19
2.7
A very slow movement, often of traffic or of a project
3
3.8
Very slowly, much slower than usual
Antonyms
How Fast
10
6.7
10
2.5
5
2.7
17
2.3
19
2.7
- Informal
1
6.8
35
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
glacial + pace
The phrase is directly compositional: 'glacial' (relating to a glacier, hence very slow) modifies 'pace' (rate or speed), so the combined meaning 'extremely slow rate' is predictable from the parts. This metaphor (comparing speed to a glacier) is transparent and similar comparisons occur in other languages, so a learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase glacial pace comes from huge rivers of ice called glaciers that move only a little each year. The word glacial points to ice and pace means 'speed', so saying something happens at a glacial pace means it moves or changes 'very slowly'.