spine-chilling
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of spine-chilling
First recorded in 1945–50; spine ( def. ) + chilling ( def. )
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.
Unexpected Productions’ improv comedians will take inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe’s literary masterpieces and blend in audience ideas for “a spine-chilling experience” that combines comedy and dark themes.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 12, 2023
The unlikely meshing of gospel and rap, spine-chilling lyrics and clever sampling of Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise” would eventually turn the single into a chart-topping hit and catapult the rapper’s decades-long musical career.
From Washington Post • Sep. 29, 2022
It is the most hauntingly and psychologically complex ghost story I’ve ever seen, presented with an ambiguous gentility that is literally spine-chilling.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 29, 2021
Extremely early-2010s-y show Game of Thrones is compared to: Deadwood What the review got right: “The series contains the kind of gorgeous vistas and spine-chilling moments you’d expect from a fantasy epic.”
From Slate • Apr. 12, 2019
After the long, torchlit approach, walking straight into the gaze of the snarling deity, mysterious bellows reverberating off the stone, the oracular declamation from above must have been spine-chilling.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
