Master confusing words with ease
Unthaw vs. Thaw
Unthaw
Examples:
She left the meat in the fridge to unthaw before cooking.After an hour in the sun, the ice cream began to unthaw.The frozen car windows began to unthaw as the heater warmed up.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Thaw
/θɔː/Examples:
The lake thawed in March.After the long winter, the ground began to thaw.Frozen pipes may burst as they thaw too quickly.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Ways to tell them apart:
- Thaw means to melt or become unfrozen, whereas unthaw is often mistakenly used to mean the same thing, despite suggesting the opposite.
- Think of thaw as the process of ice turning into water, while unthaw, logically, would mean to freeze again, but it’s commonly misused.
- The prefix un- in unthaw implies the reversal, but in common use it doesn't reverse the process of thawing.
- Remember: thaw goes from cold to warm, although unthaw is intended to mean the same, it can cause confusion.
- To avoid confusion, its clearer to stick with thaw' when referring to warming something up from a frozen state.
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