A cold fish is a person who seems cold, unfriendly and reserved. It describes someone who doesn't show their feelings and keeps their distance, even if they are not unkind at all. The idiom is informal and sounds critical; in an essay, people write reserved or distant instead.
When would you say a cold fish?
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be (a bit of) a cold fish; seem / come across as a cold fish
- Our new manager seemed a bit of a cold fish at first, but she's actually really kind.
- He rarely smiles or asks about your weekend, so some colleagues think he's a cold fish.
What changed
First versionAt first I thought our new neighbour was cold fish.
RevisionAt first I thought our new neighbour was a cold fish.
Without a, was cold fish sounds like a description of a dish: fish served cold. When it describes a person, the idiom behaves like an ordinary countable noun: a cold fish, a bit of a cold fish. The only change is adding a.
A cold fish describes someone's character, while give someone the cold shoulder describes behaviour: deliberately being cold to someone, usually because you are offended. She isn't a cold fish; she's giving you the cold shoulder after the argument.
Your turn
My neighbour never smiles or says hello to anyone, so people think he's a bit of ___.
Show the answer
a cold fish — The sentence is about the neighbour's character: he doesn't greet anyone, so a cold fish fits. A cold shoulder is not a person but a cold reception: in the idiom give someone the cold shoulder, it is something you give, so you can't call a person that.
Describe someone who seemed cold to you when you first met. Say where you met and what later changed your opinion.
When I met my colleague Anna at a conference, she seemed a bit of a cold fish, but after we worked on a project together, I saw how funny she was.
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