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

Artists and concert halls that don’t want to play ball have reason to fear they’ll be frozen out. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 24 May 2024

These are wavelike ripples in the density of matter that froze out from the fiery plasma filling the universe in the first 300,000 years or so after the big bang, and they’re thought to have influenced where galaxies subsequently formed. —Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 8 Nov. 2023

But with the support of just 73 lawmakers, Sadr tried to form a coalition government with the Sunni and the Kurdish factions and freeze out his Shiite opponents. —Mohamad Bazzi, Foreign Affairs, 13 Sep. 2022

The law also requires people who solicit more than 10 applications to be registered to vote with the state, freezing out Missourians whose felony sentences bar them from casting ballots. —Ashley Lopez, NPR, 16 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1861, in the meaning defined above

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