hair-raising
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of hair-raising
First recorded in 1895–1900
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Mother Mary” is as hair-raising as it is eyebrow-raising, all spectral senselessness until, out of nowhere, the eeriness gives way to a startling profundity as the film explores remorse with biblical repercussions.
From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026
Instead, he delivers his hair-raising message—that we’re staring at “a humiliating and bloody defeat” if we go to war with China—in a jaunty, clever and sometimes breathless book.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
But as hair-raising as a loose wolf is for the locals, the situation may be equally fur-raising for Neukgu.
From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026
“Over the course of marrying and building a life and the hair-raising things we went through, Vinnie and I essentially endured a kind of war together,” says Palmer.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 16, 2025
With difficulty, the Captain persuaded his friend to let him drive and then began their hair-raising trip from Le Havre to Paris, culminating in a cross-city ride at the busiest time of the afternoon.
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
