"Cool water" vs. "cold water" [closed]

Solution 1:

For Bodies of Water, choose "cool"

When referencing a body of water like a swimming pool, pond, lake or even an ocean, use "cool." A "cold" body of water is dangerous and threatening. While a "cool" body of water is inviting and friendly; one might take a swim in a "cool lake," but not a "cold lake."

For Drinks, choose "cold"

In English (American, at least) you are more likely to see "cold" used in reference to drinks. If you search for "cold beverages" you'll find results like below. If you search for "cool beverages" you will have fewer results. (Google will actually return results for "cold beverages" because of its algorithms.)

The reason is that "cold" is considered close to ice; whereas "cool" is closer to "mild" or "warm" while still being cooler than either. If you are seeking refreshment, you are likely to want something "cold" instead of "cool."

Sample Advertisements

Solution 2:

You can use cold in the following sentence in place of cool

I drink cool water only.

People always like cool water.

Whether it is correct or not depends on the meaning and the context, cold implies a lower temperature than cool, that is, cold is colder than cool. So it would most likely be preferable to swim in cool water than cold water

There is a short thread about this Cool versus Cold - when to use the adjectives...

An example taken from there points out that a"cool person" is quite different to a "cold person"

Solution 3:

English temperature terms are arrayed across the liquid range of water on a linear scale:

  •   freezing   •   cold   •   cool   •   tepid/lukewarm   •   warm   •   hot   •   boiling •

The polar words at the negative and positive ends (freezing, boiling) refer to state changes that limit the interest of human participants, who can't survive either freezing or boiling, personally.

Only such polar terms can take the intensifier absolutely:

• It's absolutely freezing/boiling out there.
• *It's absolutely cold/cool/tepid/lukewarm/warm/hot out there.

Like all perceptual terms, these are relative to speaker, addressee, and context.
So there are no rules about "correctness".