spine-chilling

[ spahyn-chil-ing ]

adjective

1. very frightening or horrifying.

spine-chilling

adjective

1. (of a book, film, etc) arousing terror

Word History and Origins

Origin of spine-chilling¹

First recorded in 1945–50; spine ( def ) + chilling ( def )

Example Sentences

The best film goes first: It’s about a father-daughter camping trip that goes horribly wrong at the hands of a creepy-looking park ranger and, in a spine-chilling scene, living sand.

From New York Times

Dahlia Lithwick looks at how his rhetoric has been getting even more spine-chilling of late, and why we can’t afford to lose sight of what’s at stake.

From Slate

As Trump openly described his rationale for his plans last week in the most spine-chilling language yet, undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

From Slate

To visit the spine-chilling inside of Vecna’s mind, head to 10th Avenue West in Queen Anne where it meets West Bothwell Street.

From Seattle Times

Chain saws roar, and spine-chilling screams echo from behind a dense wall of trees.

From Scientific American

Related Words

• cruel
• demonic
• devilish
• eerie
• frightening
• ghastly
• grim
• grisly
• gruesome
• horrible
• macabre
• morbid
• spooky