stone-cold

1 of 2

adjective

ˈstōn-ˈkōld 

1

: completely cold

stone-cold soup

The weather was stone-cold and often gray, with a 20-mile-an-hour headwind scouring the backstretch.

—Lorna Lentini

—often used figuratively

a stone-cold killer

… his stone-cold calculation was that he could score more money more quickly with a bat and glove.

—Scott Burton

2

US, informal : absolute, utter

In the last decade, DNA tests have provided stone-cold proof that 69 people were sent to prison and death row in North America for crimes they did not commit.

—Jim Dwyer et al.

stone-cold

2 of 2

adverb

US, informal

: absolutely, utterly

stone-cold sober

Walter Anderson was a stone-cold handsome guy, a tall, powerfully built man with a thick head of wavy blond hair …

—Edgar Allen Beam

Examples of stone-cold in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

There would be no reason to suspect Courtney Williams had evolved into a stone-cold killer who will never back down from a big shot with the game in the balance, nor that Alanna Smith is a tenacious defender capable of locking down bigs who trump her in size. —Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 12 Oct. 2024

Smith appeared in comedy capers, Merchant Ivory classics and commercial juggernauts like the Harry Potter franchise, not to mention some stone-cold ’90s classics, The First Wives Club and Sister Act among them. —Kerry McDermott, Vogue, 27 Sep. 2024

After her stone-cold expression went viral at the Paris Olympics, sharpshooter Kim Ye-Ji will play the role of an actual assassin in an upcoming Korean series. —Sakshi Venkatraman, NBC News, 25 Sep. 2024

Giving a sobering speech, everyone in the room was stone-cold silent as the actor shared his passion for HIV and AIDS awareness. —Allyson Portee, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Bob Odenkirk is reprising his role as mild-mannered family man who is secretly a former government assassin, while Sharon Stone is cast as the stone-cold villainess of the piece. —Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Kyle Denis: In addition to Midwest Princess being stacked with stone-cold bangers, Chappell’s live show has really helped her exponential rise. —Christine Werthman, Billboard, 6 Aug. 2024

This Gun for Hire (1942) Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake starred in a series of stone-cold classic crime thrillers during World War II and just after — a period when shadows grew more jagged and anti-heroes more complex, giving birth to the rise of film noir. —Christina Newland, Vulture, 6 June 2024

Part self-effacing memoir, part how-to for writing screenplays, and a window into how the levers of power worked in Hollywood, this book is a stone-cold classic. —Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024

Adverb

Now, 30 years after its initial release, the song is a stone-cold ’90s country classic and has been a mainstay in Jackson’s concerts for the past three decades. —Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 22 Feb. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1548, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adverb

1898, in the meaning defined above