# glacial
## English
### Etymology

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.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈɡleɪ.sɪəl/, /ˈɡleɪ.ʃ(ɪ)əl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪʃəl

### Adjective

glacial (comparative more glacial, superlative most glacial)
* Of, or relating to glaciers.
    We examined the glacial deposits.
    Wang Shijin is a glacier expert and director of the Yulong Snow Mountain Glacial and Environmental Observation Research Station.
* (figuratively) Very slow.
** 1917, Everybody's Magazine - Volume 37, Issue 2, Ridgeway Company, page 56: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 responsiblity.
** 1953, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services, Defense Department Authorization and Oversight, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 1251:I understand that you commented that the Japanese are moving at glacial speed. This is not the only area where they are moving at glacial speed. They are moving at glacial speed in terms of trade barriers, and it is one thing that the American people recognize.
** 1999, Michael Goodchild, Max J. Egenhofer, Robin Fegeas, Cliff Kottman, Interoperating Geographic Information Systems, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 133:Paradoxically, then, the electronic speed offered by computer-based decision-making is often overwhelmed by the glacial speed of data reformatting and checking.
** 16 October 2010, “Under the volcano”, in The Economist:Progress on judicial reform has been glacial, meeting enormous resistance.
** 2014, John P. Kotter, Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World, Harvard Business Review Press, →ISBN, page 96:Lower-level people added front-line information that ordinarily wouldn't have made it up the hierarchy to the executive committee (or would have made it at glacial speed).
** 2014, Stuart E. Eizenstat, The Future of the Jews: How Global Forces are Impacting the Jewish People, Israel, and Its Relationship with the United States, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 105:The Gulf States and Saudi Arabia are modernizing but at a glacial speed in a world moving at digital speed.
* 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.

#### Hyponyms

* englacial
* interglacial
* monoglacial
* periglacial
* postglacial
* preglacial
* proglacial
* subglacial
* supraglacial

#### Derived terms

* deglacial
* equiglacial
* fluvioglacial
* glacial acetic acid
* glacial acid
* glacial buzz saw
* glacial drift
* glacial erratic
* glacial flour
* glacial humour
* glacialism
* glacialist
* glaciality
* glacialize
* glacial lake
* glacial lake outburst flood
* glacially
* glacial maximum
* glacial milk
* glacial period
* glacial polish
* glacial till
* glacial trough
* intraglacial
* mediglacial
* neoglacial
* nonglacial
* paraglacial
* pleniglacial
* polyglacial
* superglacial

#### Translations
### Noun

glacial (plural glacials)
* A glacial period (colloquially known as an ice age).
    Synonym: ice age
    Coordinate term: interglacial

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Amy Sterling Casil (2009) The Creation of Canyons, The Rosen Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 8: “Glaciers are masses of highly compressed snow and ice that also flow downward in response to gravity, but much more slowly. This is the origin of the phrase “glacial speed.” If something is described as happening at glacial speed, that means it is occurring at a very slow pace.”

### Anagrams

* gallica

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ɡlə.siˈal]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ɡla.siˈal]

### Adjective

glacial m or f (masculine and feminine plural glacials)
* glacial

### Further reading

* “glacial” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “glacial”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “glacial” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “glacial” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Danish
### Adjective

glacial
* glacial

#### Inflection

$^1$ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. $^2$ The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

### References

* “glacial” in Den Danske Ordbog

## French
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin glaciālis. Morphologically, from glace +‎ -ial.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡla.sjal/
* Homophones: glaciale, glaciales

### Adjective

glacial (feminine glaciale, masculine plural glaciaux, feminine plural glaciales)
* freezing, ice-cold, very cold
* (figuratively) icy, very cold

#### Related terms

* glaçant
* glaciaire

### Further reading

* “glacial”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Galician
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡlaˈθjal/ [ɡlaˈθjɑɫ]
* IPA: (standard) /ɡlaˈθjal/ [ɡlaˈθjɑɫ]
* IPA: (gheada) /ħlaˈθjal/ [ħlaˈθjɑɫ]
* IPA: (gheada and seseo) /ħlaˈsjal/ [ħlaˈsjɑɫ]
* Rhymes: -al
* Hyphenation: gla‧cial

### Adjective

glacial m or f (plural glaciais)
* frozen, at the temperature of ice
    Synonym: xeado
* glacial, pertaining to glaciers
* (figuratively) frigid, chilly, not cordial
    Synonym: xélido

#### Related terms

* glaciación

### Further reading

* “glacial”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

## Norman
### Etymology

From Latin glaciālis, from glaciēs (“ice”).

### Adjective

glacial m
* (Jersey) icy

## Occitan
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

### Adjective

glacial m (feminine singular glaciala, masculine plural glacials, feminine plural glacialas)
* glacial

### Further reading

* Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 350.

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ɡla.siˈaw/ [ɡla.sɪˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /ɡlaˈsjaw/ [ɡlaˈsjaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ɡlɐˈsjal/ [ɡlɐˈsjaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ɡlɐˈsjal/ [ɡlɐˈsjaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /ɡlɐˈsja.li/
* Hyphenation: gla‧ci‧al

### Adjective

glacial m or f (plural glaciais)
* glacial (cold and icy)
    Synonym: gélido
* glacial (relating to glaciers)
* (relational) ice age
* (figurative) glacial; cold (emotionally distant)
    Synonyms: frio, gélido

### Further reading

* “glacial” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French glacial, from Latin glacialis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡla.t͡ʃiˈal/

### Adjective

glacial m or n (feminine singular glacială, masculine plural glaciali, feminine and neuter plural glaciale)
* glacial

#### Declension
### Further reading

* glacial in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Spain) /ɡlaˈθjal/ [ɡlaˈθjal]
* IPA: (Latin America, Philippines) /ɡlaˈsjal/ [ɡlaˈsjal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: gla‧cial

### Adjective

glacial m or f (masculine and feminine plural glaciales)
* glacial
* (figuratively) frigid, chilly, not cordial

#### Derived terms

* ácido acético glacial

#### Related terms

* glaciación
* glacialmente

### Further reading

* “glacial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10