Phrasal Verb - Freezing Up
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.Definition
To 'freeze up' is a phrasal verb with two primary meanings. Firstly, it means to suddenly become unable to move, think, speak, or act, typically due to extreme nervousness, fear, shyness, or surprise. In this sense, a person's mental or physical faculties become temporarily paralyzed, preventing them from responding or performing as they normally would. This can manifest as a complete mental block during an exam, an inability to speak during a public presentation, or physical immobility in a shocking situation. Secondly, when referring to a machine or a system, particularly a computer, 'freeze up' means to stop functioning, become unresponsive to input (like mouse clicks or keyboard strokes), and effectively hang or lock. The system ceases to perform its operations and requires a restart or forced shutdown to resume normal function.
Examples
| No. | Example |
|---|---|
| 1 | During her first big presentation, she started to freeze up and couldn't remember a single word of her script. |
| 2 | My old laptop tends to freeze up when I try to run too many applications at once, forcing me to restart it. |
| 3 | He completely froze up on the driving test when the instructor asked him to parallel park, failing him immediately. |
| 4 | The software updated overnight and now my entire system keeps freezing up, which is incredibly frustrating. |
| 5 | Despite all the practice, the actor still had a tendency to freeze up during live performances. |
| 6 | When the interviewer asked a really difficult question, I could feel myself starting to freeze up, my mind going blank. |
| 7 | The security camera system froze up last night, so we don't have any footage of the incident. |
| 8 | In moments of high stress, some people freeze up, while others are able to think clearly and act. |
| 9 | Don't let the pressure get to you and cause you to freeze up when it's your turn to bat. |
| 10 | We had to force quit the program because it had frozen up and wasn't responding at all. |