What does unfrozen mean?
Unfrozen is a participial adjective and verb form meaning that something is no longer frozen or that something has been allowed to thaw. Its most familiar use describes food that has been thawed, whether from a freezer or a refrigerated compartment: unfrozen vegetables, berries, fish, or prepared dough. The word can also carry a broader sense of becoming liquid or workable again after cold, as when ice in a river or frost on a window is described as unfrozen. As a verb form, unfrozen records the completion of an action: someone may have unfrozen a container before using its contents. The term is neutral and common in everyday English, though thaw is often the more natural verb for food and natural processes, while defrost is favored for windscreens, freezers, and appliances. Unfrozen is useful when a situation specifically involves the reversal of freezing rather than thawing in general.
No longer frozen; thawed or melted.
"She added the unfrozen peas to the soup."
Especially common in reference to food that has been thawed.
To thaw, or to cause something to thaw.
"They had unfrozen the bread before breakfast."
Usually appears in a perfect construction as the past participle of unfreeze.
Unfrozen has a double life: it can describe the result of thawing and serve as a past participle in the act of thawing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does unfrozen come from?
Unfrozen was formed in English by combining the negating prefix un- with frozen, the past participle of freeze. The same development also made it the past participle of the verb unfreeze. Freeze and the related words frost and frosty belong to the same Germanic etymological family, while unfrozen adds the sense of reversing or removing a frozen state.
Related word forms
How unfrozen is actually used
Unfrozen is neutral in register and is especially common in reference to food, but it can describe anything that has thawed. As a verb, it is somewhat less common than thaw; defrost is often preferred for appliances and windscreens.