glacial

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: gla=cial

CIDE DICTIONARY

glacial, a. [L. glacialis, from glacies ice: cf. F. glacial.].

•  Pertaining to ice or to its action; consisting of ice; frozen; icy; esp., pertaining to glaciers; as, glacial phenomena.  Lyell.  [1913 Webster]
•  Resembling ice; having the appearance and consistency of ice; -- said of certain solid compounds; as, glacial phosphoric or acetic acids.  [1913 Webster]

Glacial acid (Chem.), an acid of such strength or purity as to crystallize at an ordinary temperature, in an icelike form; as acetic or carbolic acid. -- Glacial drift (Geol.), earth and rocks which have been transported by moving ice, land ice, or icebergs; bowlder drift. -- Glacial epoch or Glacial period (Geol.), a period during which the climate of the modern temperate regions was polar, and ice covered large portions of the northern hemisphere to the mountain tops. -- Glacial theory or Glacial hypothesis. (Geol.) See Glacier theory, under Glacier.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

glacial, adj.
1 of ice; icy.
2 Geol. characterized or produced by the presence or agency of ice.
3 Chem. forming icelike crystals upon freezing (glacial acetic acid).

Idiom

glacial epoch (or period) a period when ice-sheets were exceptionally extensive.

Derivative

glacially adv.

Etymology

F glacial or L glacialis icy f. glacies ice

THESAURUS

glacial

Siberian, algid, aloof, arctic, below zero, biting, bitter, bitterly cold, blast-frozen, bleak, boreal, brisk, brumal, chill, chilly, cold, cold as charity, cold as death, cold as ice, cold as marble, congealed, cool, crisp, cutting, distant, emotionless, exclusive, freezing, freezing cold, frigid, frostbitten, frostnipped, frosty, frozen, frozen solid, gelid, hibernal, hiemal, hyperborean, ice, ice-cold, ice-encrusted, icelike, icy, icy-cold, inaccessible, inclement, indifferent, keen, nipping, nippy, numbing, penetrating, piercing, pinching, quick-frozen, raw, remote, reserved, rigorous, seclusive, severe, sharp, sharp-frozen, sleety, slushy, snappy, standoffish, stone-cold, subzero, supercooled, unapproachable, unemotional, winterbound, winterlike, wintery, wintry, withdrawn

ROGET THESAURUS

glacial

Slowness

N slowness, languor, drawl, creeping, lentor, retardation, slackening, delay, claudication, jog trot, dog trot, mincing steps, slow march, slow time, slow goer, slow coach, slow back, lingerer, loiterer, sluggard, tortoise, snail, poke, dawdle, slow, slack, tardy, dilatory, gentle, easy, leisurely, deliberate, gradual, insensible, imperceptible, glacial, languid, sluggish, slow paced, tardigrade, snail-like, creeping, reptatorial, slowly, leisurely, piano, adagio, largo, larghetto, at half speed, under easy sail, at a foots pace, at a snail's pace, at a funeral pace, in slow time, with mincing steps, with clipped wings, haud passibus aequis, gradually, gradatim, by degrees, by slow degrees, by inches, by little and little, step by step, one step at a time, inch by inch, bit by bit, little by little, seriatim, consecutively, dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit, at a glacial pace.

Cold

N cold, coldness, frigidity, inclemency, fresco, winter, depth of winter, hard winter, Siberia, Nova Zembla, wind- chill factor, ice, snow, snowflake, snow crystal, snow drift, sleet, hail, hailstone, rime, frost, hoar frost, white frost, hard frost, sharp frost, barf, glaze, lolly, icicle, thick-ribbed ice, fall of snow, heavy fall, iceberg, icefloe, floe berg, glacier, nev_ee, serac, pruina, freezing mixture, dry ice, liquid nitrogen, liquid helium, chilliness, chill, shivering, goose skin, horripilation, rigor, chattering of teeth, numbness, frostbite, cold, cool, chill, chilly, icy, gelid, frigid, algid, fresh, keen, bleak, raw, inclement, bitter, biting, niveous, cutting, nipping, piercing, pinching, clay-cold, starved, chilled to the bone, shivering, aguish, transi de froid, frostbitten, frost-bound, frost-nipped, cold as a stone, cold as marble, cold as lead, cold as iron, cold as a frog, cold as charity, cold as Christmas, cool as a cucumber, cool as custard, icy, glacial, frosty, freezing, pruinose, wintry, brumal, hibernal, boreal, arctic, Siberian, hyemal, hyperborean, hyperboreal, icebound, frozen out, unwarmed, unthawed, lukewarm, tepid, isocheimal, isocheimenal, isocheimic, frozen, numb, frost-bitten, coldly, bitterly, pierre fendre.