cold feet

plural noun

: apprehension or doubt strong enough to prevent a planned course of action

Examples of cold feet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The paper added police were investigating whether the suspect got cold feet or whether making such a call was part of the plan. — Kara Fox, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2026

A couple days ago a THR report claimed that Universal was getting cold feet over releasing Alex Gibney’s Musk documentary in international territories. — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 18 Sep. 2026

As for whether Smirnoff-Skyy's flair might give some buyers cold feet, listing agent Adelaida Mejia of Vanguard Properties isn't losing any sleep over it. — Itay Hod, CBS News, 9 June 2026

Advertisers began to get cold feet about the vigilante-like tactics used to investigate alleged predators. — Toni Fitzgerald, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1893, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cold feet

• amit
• athlete
• backseat
• blackfeet
• broadsheet
• browbeat
• buckwheat
• compete
• compleat
• complete
• conceit
• concrete