Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Nautical A sturdy ship built for breaking a passage through icebound waters. Also called iceboat.
- n. A protective pier or dock apron used as a buffer against floating ice.
- n. Something done or said to relax an unduly formal atmosphere or situation.
- n. A beginning; a start.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A structure of masonry or timber (as a pier or row of piles) for the protection of bridge-piers or of vessels in dock from moving ice.
- n. An ice-boat for breaking channels through ice in a river or harbor.
- n. The bowhead, or great polar whale, Balæna mysticetus: a whalers’ name.
- n. A hand- or power-machine for breaking ice into small fragments for various uses.
Wiktionary
- n. A ship designed to break through ice so that it, or other ships coming behind, can navigate on frozen seas.
- n. A game, activity, humorous anecdote, etc., designed to relax a group of people to help them get to know each other.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. a ship with a reinforced bow and powerful engines designed to break up layers of ice on waterways and keep channels open for navigation.
- n. A remark or action intended to relieve tension or reduce formality when initiating conversation or beginning a speech; it is often a humorous or light remark.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a ship with a reinforced bow to break up ice and keep channels open for navigation
- n. a beginning that relaxes a tense or formal atmosphere
Examples
“Greenpeace's icebreaker is in Buenos Aires, this is not innocent, it is the voice of the environmentalists, ecologists and citizens conscious of taking care of their house.”
Global Voices in English » Argentina: Cleaning Up the Riachuelo
“* An Arctic icebreaker is sliced in half by said hockey stick.”
‘Avatar,’ Michael Bay Have Nothing On College Hockey’s Alaska Nanooks » MTV Movies Blog
“In small groups of 5-8, one fun icebreaker is called “2 Truths 1 Lie”.”
“At least one more detachment -- including four destroyers, two "hydrographic vessels" (a cover name for intelligence ships) and even one "icebreaker" -- went through the Turkish straits on May 31”
“Microsoft: first ad just an "icebreaker" - The first Seinfeld ad that aired Thursday evening is just an”
“Microsoft: first ad just an "icebreaker" - The first Seinfeld ad that aired Thursday evening is just an "icebreaker" that will be backed by more substantive ads in the near future,”
“Twenty sazheni below the icebreaker was a gang of barefooted sailors, engaged in hacking out the floes from under their barges; and as they shattered the brittle, greyish-blue crust on the river, the mattocks rang out, and the sharp blades of the icecutters gleamed as they thrust the broken fragments under the surface.”
“These other nations get it in terms of climate change," said Michael Byers, referring to the icebreaker building boom and the concerted effort to get vessels into the High Arctic for research.”
“The shared name, he believes, is an "icebreaker" among African-Americans suspicious of the politician's conservatism.”
The Wall Street Journal: Young Boozer, Krystal Ball, Say 'Vote for Me' Despite Odd Names
“Back to Caligula's Ball, where the party's hosts had orchestrated an "icebreaker" performance at 12: 30 a.m.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘icebreaker’.
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Out to Sea
If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat.boat, ship, skiff, barge, canoe, catamaran, yacht, scow, lifeboat, launch, ketch, dory and 303 more...
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Amalgamations
Words that have been smashed together.
keystone, touchstone, footprint, thunderhead, seesaw, textbook, leftovers, watchword, afterbirth, fieldwork, outcast, statesman and 148 more...
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Words for ice and snow
Environmental Ice and Snow
(excluding all the food ice)ice, icicle, frazil, frasil, sleet, slush, snow, flurry, snowfall, freeze, flash-freeze, quick-freeze and 618 more...
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Wordnik Words
Words that appear on the home page of Wordnik.
abaci, cabooleat, endomorphic, warfinger, varna, tautological, quesadillia, hub, oceanography, ken, ignimbrite, galactagogue and 110 more...
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Words of Whimsy & Grace
abecedary, addendum, ampersand, anachronism, avuncular, balderdash, barnacle, befuddle, behemoth, bejeebers, blabbermouth, blatherskite and 465 more...
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Sassypants
The qualities of The Diva. Social skills, playful yet bitchy.
churlish, bitchy, cantankerous, peevish, disagreeable, quarrelsome, venomous, grumpy, groachy, crabby, dismal, snappish and 143 more...
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Driftology
Words combed from 'Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author,Who Went in Search of Them.'
driftology, beachcomber, skookum, wrack, jackstraw, driftologist, garbage patch, ghost net, autodumbfoundment, phytoplankton, gyre, hindcast and 58 more...
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amusements
why aren't you more manly
blamethrower, pretent, hob, persnickety, extemporanea, checkouted, sexy stuffs, tharm, cankle, asshat, guesstimate, truthiness and 11 more...
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Relating
words I am reflecting upon
Tweets
Looking for tweets for icebreaker.
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