Freeze: meaning, definitions and examples

Used when talking about lowering temperature to the point where a liquid turns into a solid, or stopping motion.

• The winter cold will freeze the lake.
• Please freeze the leftover food to keep it fresh.
• The computer will freeze if you run too many programs at once.

Generally used to describe the process of making something solid or more definite, often in a metaphorical sense.

• The mixture will solidify as it cools.
• Attending the workshop helped her solidify her knowledge of the subject.
• The team's performance solidified their position at the top of the league.

Commonly used in scientific or figurative contexts to describe the process of forming or making something clear and definite.

• Over time, the sugar will crystallize in the jar.
• The scientist was able to crystallize her theory after years of research.
• His ideas began to crystallize into a solid plan.

Use when referring to someone or something becoming motionless, often due to fear or surprise.

• The deer froze when it saw the headlights
• Hearing a loud noise, she froze in her tracks

Use in everyday situations to indicate ceasing an activity or motion.

• Please stop talking during the movie
• The bus stops here every 15 minutes

Use in formal or official contexts to indicate stopping an action or movement, often abruptly.

• The police halted traffic for the parade
• Due to technical difficulties, production was halted

In the context of systems or programs, 'freeze' describes a state where the system stops responding to inputs, usually temporarily. The metaphorical use refers to any kind of situation where progress is halted.

• If you click too fast, the program might freeze, causing a loss of progress.
• The system freeze was caused by an unexpected bug.

Use 'hang' when a computer program or system becomes unresponsive but hasn't completely crashed. Commonly used in computing to describe a slow or stalled process.

• My laptop tends to hang when I run too many background applications.
• The Word document started to hang after it exceeded the large file size.

Use 'crash' when referring to a sudden failure of a system, especially computer systems or software. This term often implies a need for a restart or troubleshooting.

• The application will crash if there is a memory overload.
• His computer crashed right before he could save his work.