freeze out

verb

froze out; frozen out; freezing out; freezes out

transitive verb

: exclude

freeze-out

ˈfrēz-ˌau̇t 

noun

Synonyms

• ban
• bar
• close out
• count (out)
• debar
• eliminate
• except
• exclude
• rule out
• shut out

Examples of freeze out in a Sentence

a housing market that effectively freezes out people of moderate means

Recent Examples on the Web

But there is no reason to think that interventions by Washington’s new sheriff will prove transformative, especially given that Kyiv has been frozen out of the conversation. —Mick Ryan, Foreign Affairs, 21 Feb. 2025

The free publicity from Musk was a potential boon for AfD, which has been frozen out of mainstream German politics, in part, because its leaders have downplayed Nazi atrocities. —David Ingram, NBC News, 9 Jan. 2025

Jefferson County has 440 children across 330 households who were frozen out, after having more than 1,000 children on the waitlist through the summer, according to officials there. —Nick Coltrain, The Denver Post, 16 Feb. 2025

Unless peace quickly comes to Ukraine and the International Olympic Committee and Moscow suddenly repair their long-fraught relationship, Russian athletes could be largely frozen out of their second consecutive Olympics. —David K. Li, NBC News, 13 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1861, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for freeze out

• roundabout
• runabout
• sauerkraut
• thereabout
• turnabout
• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout

Legal Definition

freezeout

1 of 2 noun

freeze·​out

ˈfrēz-ˌau̇t

: a corporate action (as a merger) taken by those in control of the corporation (as controlling shareholders or the board of directors) for the purpose of causing the minority shareholders to lose their equity in the corporation (as by the sale of their shares) compare squeezeout

freeze out

2 of 2 transitive verb

: to subject to a freezeout