get cold feet
/ˌɡɛt ˈkoʊld fit/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.69 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To become nervous about going through with something.
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: chicken out"
- "As we accelerate after leaving Didcot, we pass a lot of masts erected for wires that have not yet materialised - and probably won't for years to come. That's because halfway through the Great Western Electrification Programme, ministers suddenly got cold feet as the cost escalated."
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌɡɛt ˈkoʊld fit/
- British English: /ˌɡɛt ˈkəʊld fiːt/