glacial
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡleɪ.sɪəl/
ipa: /ˈɡleɪ.ʃ(ɪ)əl/
rhymes: -eɪʃəl
Forms: form: more glacial
form: most glacial
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.
Senses: examples: text: We examined the glacial deposits.
text: Wang Shijin is a glacier expert and director of the Yulong Snow Mountain Glacial and Environmental Observation Research Station.
glosses: Of, or relating to glaciers.
examples: text: 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 responsibility.
ref: 1917, Everybody's Magazine - Volume 37, Issue 2, Ridgeway Company, page 56:
text: 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.
ref: 1953, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services, Defense Department Authorization and Oversight, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 1251:
text: Paradoxically, then, the electronic speed offered by computer-based decision-making is often overwhelmed by the glacial speed of data reformatting and checking.
ref: 1999, Michael Goodchild, Max J. Egenhofer, Robin Fegeas, Cliff Kottman, Interoperating Geographic Information Systems, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 133:
text: By all means move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.
ref: 2006, Aline Brosh McKenna, Lauren Weisberger, The Devil Wears Prada, spoken by Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep):
text: Progress on judicial reform has been glacial, meeting enormous resistance.
ref: 2010 October 16, “Under the volcano”, in The Economist:
text: 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).
ref: 2014, John P. Kotter, Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World, Harvard Business Review Press, →ISBN, page 96:
text: The Gulf States and Saudi Arabia are modernizing but at a glacial speed in a world moving at digital speed.
ref: 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:
glosses: Very slow.
examples: text: After the rain and frost, the pavements were glacial.
glosses: Cold and icy.
examples: text: On cold days, glacial acetic acid will freeze in the bottle.
glosses: Having the appearance of ice.
examples: text: He gave me a glacial stare.
glosses: Cool and unfriendly.
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