spine-chilling[adjective]Synonyms: frightening, bloodcurdling, eerie, horrifying, scary
(informal), spooky
(informal), terrifying
English Thesaurus: frightening, scary, chilling, spooky, creepy, ... [TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲
ˈspine-ˌchilling adjective a spine-chilling story or film is very frightening in a way that people enjoy
—spine-chiller noun [countable] [TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲
frightening making you feel frightened:
Being held at gunpoint had been the most frightening moment of his life. The experience was very frightening.scary especially spoken frightening.
Scary is less formal than
frightening and is very common in everyday English:
The movie was really scary. There were some scary moments.chilling frightening, especially because violence, cruelty, or danger is involved:
a chilling tale of revenge, murder and madness The court heard chilling details about the attack.spooky frightening and strange, especially because something involves ghosts or powers that people do not understand:
The forest is really spooky in the dark. a spooky coincidence spooky storiescreepy informal frightening in a way that makes you feel nervous, especially when you are not sure exactly why – used especially about places, people, and feelings:
This place is really creepy. Let’s get out of here. a creepy guy Do you know that creepy feeling when you're sure someone’s there but you can’t see or hear anything?eerie especially literary strange and frightening:
There was an eerie silence immediately after the bomb went off. an eerie light an eerie feelingintimidating making you feel frightened, nervous, or lacking in confidence:
Big schools can be an intimidating place for young children. Giving evidence in court is often a rather intimidating experience. the intimidating presence of a large number of soldiersmenacing frightening because you think someone is going to hurt you, even though they have not said or done anything violent – used especially about someone’s expression or voice:
The woman had a very menacing look. ‘I’d like to have a word with you outside,’ he said in a menacing tone.terrifying extremely frightening:
a terrifying thought The experience was absolutely terrifying. She spoke of the terrifying ordeal (=a very bad experience) when three armed men burst into her house.hair-raising very frightening and involving danger, in a way that is exciting:
hair-raising stories a hair-raising motorcycle ride through the streets of Havanaspine-chilling very frightening – used about films, stories etc that involve frightening or cruel events:
a spine-chilling novel by Stephen Kingblood-curdling especially literary [only before noun] very frightening – used especially about sounds:
a blood-curdling scream a blood-curdling growl [TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲