thaw

1. 1.

   the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid

   “the power failure caused a refrigerator melt that was a disaster”

   “the thawing of a frozen turkey takes several hours”

   Synonymsmeltthawingmelting

   Broaderheatingphase change
2. 2.

   warm weather following a freeze; snow and ice melt

   “they welcomed the spring thaw”

   Synonymsthawingwarming

   Broaderweather
3. 3.

   a relaxation or slackening of tensions or reserve; becoming less hostile

   “the thaw between the United States and Russia has led to increased cooperation in world affairs”

   Broaderrelaxation

1. 1.

   become or cause to become soft or liquid

   “The sun melted the ice”

   “the ice thawed”

   “the ice cream melted”

   “The heat melted the wax”

   “The giant iceberg dissolved over the years during the global warming phase”

   “dethaw the meat”

   Synonymsdissolveunfreezeunthawdethawmelt

   Broaderliquefy

   Narrowerdeliquescedefrost

Other forms of thaw

plural

thaws·

past tense

thawed·

present participle

thawing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about thaw

What does thaw mean?

thaw means "the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in thaw?

thaw has 1 syllable: thaw. In IPA it is /ˈθɔ/.

What is another word for thaw?

Close synonyms include melt, thawing, melting, thawing, warming. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is thaw a common word?

thaw is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.