cold sweat
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.09 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
1
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Perspiration which feels chilly to the person perspiring, and which indicates debilitating illness, shock, or the experiencing of an intense emotion such as despair, anxiety, or, especially, fear.
Example Sentences
- ". . . And the dead were at my feet. The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Ne rot, ne reek did they; The look with which they look'd on me, Had never pass'd away."
- "He clasped his hands together, and involuntarily uttered a subdued exclamation of horror. A mist came before his eyes; the cold sweat stood upon his ashy face."
- "[T]he great fear grew on me till the cold sweat ran from my brow and my soul was faint within me."
- "The leader of the hounds broke into cry again, a deep, full-toned, ringing bay, strange, ominous, terribly significant in its power. It caused a cold sweat to ooze out all over Duane's body."
- "One could argue that the banking crisis is just the cold sweat, not the flu that follows it"