cold feet

noun

Definition of cold feetnext
as in uncertainty

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cold feet 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 Or, sometimes the non-comics get cold feet on a certain joke. — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 12 May 2026 The $10 billion that Cursor keeps even if the deal doesn’t happen looks, to my traditional M&A reporter brain, like the largest breakup fee on record (a smart move, given Musk’s penchant for getting cold feet). — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 23 Apr. 2026 But Borgli isn’t just delivering a biting satire on the ultimate case of cold feet. — David Sims, The Atlantic, 3 Apr. 2026 Did OpenAI’s discontinuation of Sora force Disney out of the deal, or did Disney get cold feet first? — Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 25 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cold feet
  1. uncertainty
  2. doubt
  3. suspense
  4. dread
  5. angst
  6. torment
  7. foreboding
  8. upset
Noun
  • The uncertainty lay in how to care for themselves, honor that history and make space for a future.
    — Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Josemar Lauriano Pereira, a 46-year-old lawyer, said that the rapid availability of results helped combat fraud and uncertainty.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of uncertainty
Noun
  • In the lead-up to the 2022 vote, Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly cast unfounded doubts on Brazil's electronic voting system.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 4 Oct. 2026
  • The suspects are innocent unless proven guilty by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of doubt
Noun
  • Instead of lots of action, violence, carnage and suspense, the show with Kurt Russell and Michelle Pfeiffer tells a very different kind of story.
    — David Hookstead OutKick, FOXNews.com, 30 Sep. 2026
  • In fiction, spoiler alerts exist to protect the reader experience, premised on the idea that knowing a story’s outcome will reduce momentum and suspense.
    — Beverly Gage, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of suspense
Noun
  • Artificial is pointedly funnier than his other work, including a large comedic performance by Ike Barinholtz as Musk, even as an existential dread permeates.
    — E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Audiences can expect natural richness, such as underwater images of glistening shellfish, to encounter ecological dread.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of dread
Noun
  • These two really needed a good boning to get all that angst out of their systems.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Thirteen miles away in Oakland the following day, some senior citizens sat down with a group of students to address AI angst at a grassroots tech event.
    — Queenie Wong, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of angst
Noun
  • At the same party, Chris (Alison Thornton), the chief designer of Carrie’s torment, has the worst party of her life.
    — Hunter Ingram, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
  • But what her father left out of his memoir and Duong captured in her film was the untold torment of Ba leaving his mother, Nguyen Thị Bay, or grandmother Ba Noi, and close relatives behind in their ancestral village in Vietnam.
    — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of torment
Noun
  • Like MBD_Trans Am, the video has a foreboding din for its score, except that in this case the horror is even more explicit.
    — Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 30 Sep. 2026
  • And here’s where all the flash-forward business this season finally comes into thematic focus, imbuing the scene with an Old-Testament style foreboding.
    — Andy Andersen, Vulture, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of foreboding
Noun
  • Howard of Macon is in AJC Varsity’s football rankings for the first time, Berrien is breaking a 33-year poll drought, Stephens County is cashing in on a massive upset and Grayson is back after a six-week absence.
    — Todd Holcomb, AJC.com, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Conanan wants to invite Johnny and Matthew's parents, Guy and Jane Gaudreau, to the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, later this fall if his horse pulls off the upset.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of upset

Browse Nearby Words

cold-eyed
cold feet
cold fish
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Cite this Entry

“Cold feet.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cold%20feet. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

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