chilling

[ chil-ing ]

adjective

1. causing or likely to cause a chill:

   the chilling effect of the high unemployment rate.

Word History and Origins

Origin of chilling¹

chill + -ing ²

Example Sentences

This chilling response underscores an uncomfortable reality: Immigrants do not live in isolation.

From Los Angeles Times

Any form of restricting access to gender-affirming care will have a “chilling” effect on health care for transgender and gender-diverse people, said Dr. Alex Keuroghlian, the director of the Division of Public and Community Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

From Salon

Procedural democracy has no meaningful constituency in the United States of America, which is chilling.

From Slate

The complaint stems from charges filed in 2021 by Ashley Gjovik, a former senior engineering program manager at the company, who claimed that an email sent by Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, in which he pledged to punish employees who leaked company information, had a chilling effect on workers’ discussions of pay equity and discrimination.

From Los Angeles Times

That chilling vision of the presidency happens to align almost perfectly with that endorsed by the majority of the Supreme Court when it awarded Trump sweeping criminal immunity last July.

From Slate

Related Words

• eerie
• horrifying
• shocking
• thrilling