What is the opposite of heat?
Hot>Cold
Hotness>Coldness
But Heat>?
I think as Heat actually means heat energy, it should not or does not have an opposite. Is this right?
asked Dec 31, 2015 at 15:44
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2What's the opposite of "The cold is making me shiver"? Is it "The hot is making me sweat"? Or should that be "heat"?– Peter ShorDec 31, 2015 at 15:51
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Are you looking for an antonym for the noun or verb version of "heat"?– Kristina LopezDec 31, 2015 at 15:53
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@KristinaLopez what's an example of the verb form of heat?– amancalledamanDec 31, 2015 at 15:57
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1@Kristinlopez an example of the verb form of heat is "Heat the water to 100 degrees centigrade to boil it."– Tom BDec 31, 2015 at 16:00
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1This is rather like asking what is the opposite of time.– Edwin AshworthDec 31, 2015 at 16:38
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5 Answers
Hot (qua adjective) is the opposite of cold (qua adjective).
Heat (qua noun) is the opposite of cold (qua noun).
answered Dec 31, 2015 at 15:53
For the verb form of "heat", the opposite is "cool":
"My soup is cold, I need to heat it."
"My soup is actually gazpacho so don't heat it, cool it down!"
answered Dec 31, 2015 at 15:57
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Heat just means the measure of thermal energy, cold is a description of relative temperature from the perspective of humans on Earth.– Tom BDec 31, 2015 at 16:02
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I guess heat it means to provide heat energy to it. Cool it means remove the heat energy then Dec 31, 2015 at 16:06
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Actually, in my example, heat means apply energy to raise the temperature of the soup, to cool means to lower the temperature of the soup via other means, both of which involve thermodynamics, though. (That's not my area of expertise so hopefully that explanation didn't sound totally ridiculous!) :-) Dec 31, 2015 at 16:16
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20 years ago in a materials science laboratory, I used a "chill block" to regulate the temperature of a specimen. So I "chilled" as a verb. Dec 31, 2015 at 17:42
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It's clear to me now, thanks. But may I know why someone would want to downvote my question? Jan 1, 2016 at 9:33
frigid adj. Lacking heat
frigidity noun Lack of heat
entropy noun Lack of available heat
(physics/thermodynamics)
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Hi, human. I upvote this answer. Please go ahead and post the link to the comment.– user140086Jan 5, 2016 at 11:54
We say of the weather, "This heat is unbearable" or "this cold is unbearable," so in at least some senses "cold" is the opposite of "heat."
answered Dec 31, 2015 at 15:48
As a noun used for the weather as stated in the above answers its "cold." If used to denote the energy of something there is no opposite. If you ask whats the heat of the universe its close to 0 Kelvin and that's considered cold to humans on Earth. We don't generally say "What's the cold of the universe?" for example.
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Yes, I was only thinking on the 'energy' lines, because that's where I needed it at first. Now I've got it Dec 31, 2015 at 16:00