Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or derived from a glacier.
- adj. Suggesting the extreme slowness of a glacier: Work proceeded at a glacial pace.
- adj. Characterized or dominated by the existence of glaciers. Used of a geologic epoch.
- adj. Pleistocene. See Table at geologic time.
- adj. Extremely cold; icy: glacial waters. See Synonyms at cold.
- adj. Having the appearance of ice.
- adj. Lacking warmth and friendliness: a glacial stare.
- adj. Coldly detached: a glacial composure.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Icy; consisting of ice; frozen; hence, resembling ice; figuratively, having a cold, glassy look or manner.
- In geology, referring to ice; associated with the geological agency of ice.
- Of or relating to a glacier or an ice-sheet.
- In chem., assuming the solid state as a result of concentration: used chiefly of certain acids (as acetic, sulphuric, and phosphoric acids) which are commonly seen as liquids but solidify at low temperatures when concentrated by removal of water. In the case of phosphoric acid, water is not only removed by evaporation but is also evolved by the chemical decomposition of orthophosphoric acid, which is thus converted into metaphosphoric acid, the epithet glacial being applied to the latter.
Wiktionary
- adj. of, or relating to glaciers
- adj. figuratively very slow
- adj. cold and icy
- adj. having the appearance of ice
- adj. cool and unfriendly
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Pertaining to ice or to its action; consisting of ice; frozen; icy; esp., pertaining to glaciers.
- adj. (Chem.) Resembling ice; having the appearance and consistency of ice; -- said of certain solid compounds.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. relating to or derived from a glacier
- adj. devoid of warmth and cordiality; expressive of unfriendliness or disdain
- adj. extremely cold
Etymologies
- From French glacial, from Latin glaciālis, from glaciēs ("ice"). (Wiktionary)
- French from Old French, icy, from Latin glaciālis, from glaciēs, ice; see gel- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I would be interested for your explanation of atmospheric gas bubbles and volcanic ash in glacial ice.”
“So while we may be seeing a gradual sea rise due to glacial melt, once the glacial is gone, things may get hot fast.”
“This may be spurious conclusion if you superimpose the jökulhlaup observation on a continuous long term glacial retreat since the end of the last ice age of the non-little variety.”
“On cooling from the fused state it forms a glassy solid, and on this account is often called glacial phosphoric acid.”
“I use it to put current climate change into perspective, but also also to make the point that small changes in the earth’s temperature can be dramatic – in particular, the graph indicates that the difference between the last ice age and the current inter-glacial is about 2°C average global temperature.”
“The first is that any advance toward implementing a proper commitment on reducing carbon dioxide emissions will again be what used to be known as glacial.”
The Guardian: Poor must have the burden of global warming lifted
“He called glacial striations “trails left by the intruder.””
“Alps and Andes are children of yesterday when compared with Snowdon and the Cumberland hills; and the so-called glacial epoch — that in which perhaps the most extensive physical changes of which any record remaining occurred — is the last and the newest of the revolutions of the globe.”
“Prepossessed as I was with the idea of glacial agency in times anterior to ours, these phenomena appeared to me under a new aspect.”
“Some will say, that the fact of the advance of ice-fields over an open country is by no means established, inasmuch as many geologists believe all the so-called glacial traces, viz. striæ, furrows, polish, etc., found in the United”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘glacial’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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@vcb.etym.prjct - SAT WORD DUMP - as ...
The words on this list SAT regulars that I haven't sorted and grouped yet. It's like my wordy holding pen. get it? holding the pen to write a word? HA! I love how lame my humor is.
iconoclast, glacial, agnostic, histrionic, treacly, contemptuous, captious, bombastic, bombast, perfidy, quiescence, sordid and 148 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Winter Words
Words that have to do with the Winter season.
snow, coat, hibernation, ice, christmas, cold, sleet, hail, december, january, evergreen, frost and 11 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 481 more...
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Specificity
Words that have with subtly different meanings from other words.
vestibule, commoditize, commodify, monetize, corroborate, mezzanine, apposite, irony, calefacient, maxim, pandiculate, rarefaction and 39 more...
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I am : cold
Cold adjectives.
cold, frigid, freezing, glacial, gelid, chill, crisp, cool, frosty, nippy, icy, brisk and 13 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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collection
sanguine, vie, antebellum, glacial, treacly, iconoclast, lissom, anathema, serendipity, parsimonious, histrionic, contemptuous and 279 more...
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lanas's Words
serendipitous, insouciant, charming, sanguine, dear, odd, quaint, small, tremble, blush, flirt, tryst and 248 more...
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tranquill's Words
loquacious, unmitigated, trundle, ephemeral, vociferous, trapezoidal, liminal, obsequious, veracity, squash, onomatopoeia, oscillate and 267 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (G)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
gable, gaia, gala, galaxy, gallows, gambol, garden, garland, garnet, gauntlet, gazebo, gazelle and 105 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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