nonfrozen

Nonfrozen is an adjective that describes something that has not been frozen. It is used in general language to indicate an unfrozen state and can apply to substances, environments, or products where solidification has not occurred.

In science, the term is often used to describe liquids or regions that remain unfrozen at temperatures at or below the usual freezing point, typically due to supercooling or freezing-point depression caused by impurities, solutes, or pressure. Pure water can exhibit a metastable nonfrozen state when cooled below 0°C without crystallizing, while solutions such as saltwater or glycerol mixtures may stay liquid well below a standard freezing point. In materials science and cryogenics, nonfrozen conditions are important for studying phase transitions, crystallization, and the behavior of liquids in confinement.

In consumer and food contexts, nonfrozen is commonly used in labeling or marketing to indicate products that have not been subjected to freezing, such as fresh produce or ready-to-eat items that are sold unfrozen or thawed rather than frozen.

Despite its everyday use, nonfrozen is not a precise technical term in most scientific literatures, where specific terms such as supercooled, unfrozen, or below-freezing are preferred. The concept overlaps with freezing point depression, metastability, and phase diagrams.