Make Your Point: GELID

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pronounce GELID:

JELL id

connect this word to others:

You probably know lots of words from the Latin gelare ("to freeze") and gelum ("frost"), like gel, gelatin, jelly, congeal, and gelato. They all indicate coldness or stiffness. So does gelid, the rare and lovely word we're checking out today.

It means cold, chilly, icy, frozen, freezing, frosted, or gl__ial (can you recall that synonym?).

Gelid is giving me shivers. Let's warm up by recalling the equally rare and lovely word apr___te, meaning "to bask in the sun, especially in winter."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Gelid" comes from the Latin gelum, meaning "ice, frost, or extreme cold," which is closely related to gelare, "to freeze, or to stiffen." We've used it for centuries in English to mean "icy, frosty, extremely cold."

In other words, gelid things are intensely cold, either in a refreshing way or a painful way.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "the gelid air;" "The air was gelid."

Other forms:

The adverb is "gelidly."

For a noun, you can pick between "gelidness" and "gelidity." I like "gelidity" better.

how to use it:

"Gelid" is a rare, beautiful word, perfect for when you want to catch your reader by surprise.

You might talk about gelid water, liquids, air, or weather. Or, talk about someone's gelid glare or attitude.

examples:

"He pulled the wick out of the bottle and poured the bottle about half full, old straight weight oil thick and gelid with the cold and a long time pouring."
— Cormac McCarthy, The Road, 2006

"A thousand caribou trot past... Ungainly in looks, but a natural for work — each hoof a snowshoe, with hollow fur for warmth and to buoy them across gelid Arctic rivers."
— Christopher Solomon, New York Times, 9 September 2019

has this page helped you understand "gelid"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "gelid" without saying "bracing" or "frigid."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone's) gaze is gelid, as if they would love to (do something vicious)."

Example 1: "A Christmas Melody is a hilarious Hallmark movie. Mariah Carey's gaze is composed but gelid, as if she would love to hurl Lacey Chabert into an open yuletide flame."

Example 2: "Staring from his seat at the piano, Ron's gelid gaze is sphinxian, murderous, as if he would love to get the song over with and put a knife in his brother's chest."
— Christopher Solomon, Washington Post, 17 July 2021

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "The LOL Is In the Details."

I'll give you a vague version of a quote from a funny writer or speaker, then prompt you to liven it up with detail. To see the original quote, scroll all the way down.

Here's an example:

"Don't order any of the faerie food… It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you’re snacking, the next minute you’re doing something insane."

Snacking on what? Doing what?

You might say, "One minute you’re sampling a mushroom tart, the next minute you’re doing the Macarena."

And the writer's original version was "One minute you're munching on a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head."
— Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, 2007

Try this one today:

"I don't think people talked enough about the mystery meat patty [being served to kids at school] that looks like it's sick. It looks like dry soil."

Sick with what? What kind of soil, from where and when?

review this word:

1. The opposite of GELID is

A. SOFT.
B. WARM.
C. LIQUID.

2. In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison wrote: "His skin takes on the pale, cheerless yellow of _____ sun; for a jaw he has the edges of a _____ field dotted with stubble; his high forehead is the _____ sweep of the Erie, hiding currents of gelid thoughts that eddy in darkness."

A. rising .. dewy .. midday
B. April .. radish .. emerald
C. winter .. snowbound .. frozen

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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