I can't seem to find a non-awkward way of expressing this sort of sentiment: suppose you want to tell a friend about some time you were really, really cold, but it wasn't the coldest you've ever been. How do you express that?
"That was some of the coldest I've ever been"
"That was among the coldest I've ever been"
"Of the times I've been cold, that was among the coldest"
These all seem so clunky to me. Is there a more elegant way to phrase this?
This problem seems to be unique to this situation. In other contexts that are more direct, or less subjective, it doesn't seem to be an issue. For example:
"It is one of the coldest places I've ever been"
"The temperatures were among the coldest I've ever experienced"
But those aren't exactly the sentiments you're trying to capture. It is more nuanced, because you want to convey how cold it felt to you, somewhat subjectively, rather than report on, say, the objective temperatures. If that seems contrived, consider a similar situation where you're describing "some of the loneliest you've ever been".
Many thanks for suggestions on more elegant ways to phrase this kind of sentiment!