glacial

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glacial^¹

/ˈɡleɪ.sɪəl/ UK
/ˈɡleɪ.ʃ(ɪ)əl/ UK

Rhymes with -eɪʃəl

Where it comes from

Borrowed from French glacial, from Latin glaciālis, from glaciēs (“ice”). The sense "slow" refers to the speed of actual glaciers, typically around 1 meter per day.

adjective more glacial · most glacial

Of, or relating to glaciers. We examined the glacial deposits.
figuratively Very slow. He could remember a day that he had spent the whole of (he couldn't have been more than ten) running one of the great, creaking freight elevators at a glacial speed, answering the calls of the bell—one ring, five rings, three rings—with an almost unbearable sense of responsibility.
Cold and icy. After the rain and frost, the pavements were glacial.
Having the appearance of ice. On cold days, glacial acetic acid will freeze in the bottle.
figuratively Cool and unfriendly. He gave me a glacial stare.

noun glacials

A glacial period (colloquially known as an ice age).
Similar: ice age

Glacial^²

proper noun

Of the Pleistocene period dominated by the presence of glaciers.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: wintry, frozen, icy, freezing, gelid, frosty, frigid, cold, polar, arctic, glacier, ice, chilling, chilly, bleak, slow

Translations

Every language

adj relating to glaciers

Español	glaciar
Deutsch	glazial
Ελληνικά	παγετωνικός pagetonikós
Русский	леднико́вый lednikóvyj

adj cold and icy

Español	glacial, gélido
Français	glacial
Deutsch	eisig, eiskalt

noun glacial period

Español	glaciación, era glacial
Deutsch	Kaltzeit, Eiszeit, Glazial

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MLA

"glacial." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/glacial. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

glacial. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/glacial

Chicago

"glacial." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/glacial.

BibTeX

@misc{glacial_2026,
  title = {glacial},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/glacial},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}