chill
Americannoun
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chills
plural
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coldness, especially a moderate but uncomfortably penetrating coldness.
the chill of evening.
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a sensation of cold, usually with shivering.
She felt a slight chill from the open window.
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a feeling of sudden fear, anxiety, or alarm.
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sudden coldness of the body, as during the cold stage of an ague.
fevers and chills.
-
a depressing influence or sensation.
His presence cast a chill over everyone.
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lack of warmth of feeling; unfriendliness; coolness.
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Foundry. an inserted object or a surface in a mold capable of absorbing large amounts of heat, used to harden the surface of a casting or to increase its rate of solidification at a specific point.
adjective
verb (used without object)
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chills,
present (3rd person singular)
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chilled,
past participle, past
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chilling
present participle
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to become cold.
The earth chills when the sun sets.
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to be seized with a chill; shiver with cold or fear.
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Foundry. (of a casting) to become hard on the surface by contact with a chill or chills.
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Slang. to calm down; relax (often followed byout ).
verb (used with object)
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chills,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chilled,
past participle, past
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chilling
present participle
-
to affect with cold; make chilly.
The rain has chilled me to the bone.
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to make cool.
Chill the wine before serving.
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to depress; discourage; deter.
The news chilled his hopes.
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Foundry. to harden the surface of (a casting) by casting it in a mold having a chill or chills.
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Slang. to kill; murder.
idioms
noun
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a moderate coldness
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a sensation of coldness resulting from a cold or damp environment, or from a sudden emotional reaction
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a feverish cold
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a check on enthusiasm or joy
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a metal plate placed in a sand mould to accelerate cooling and control local grain growth
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another name for bloom 1
adjective
verb
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to make or become cold
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(tr) to cool or freeze (food, drinks, etc)
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(tr)
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to depress (enthusiasm, etc)
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to discourage
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(tr) to cool (a casting or metal object) rapidly in order to prevent the formation of large grains in the metal
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slang (intr) to relax; calm oneself
Synonym Usage
See cold.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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chillnessnoun
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overchillverb
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prechillverb (used with object)
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chillingadjective
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overchilladjective
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unchilledadjective
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well-chilledadjective
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chillinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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chillsimple
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chillssimple
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have chilledperfect
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has chilledperfect
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am chillingprogressive
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are chillingprogressive
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is chillingprogressive
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have been chillingperfect progressive
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has been chillingperfect progressive
Past
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chilledsimple
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had chilledperfect
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was chillingprogressive
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were chillingprogressive
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had been chillingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of chill
First recorded before 900; Middle English chile, Old English cele, ci(e)le “coolness”; cf. cool, cold; akin to Latin gelāre “to freeze,” gelum “frost, cold,” glaciēs “ice” ( see gelato, gelid, glacier)
Explanation
A sharp burst of cold air or icy temperatures is a chill. The chill of a January day in New England might make you dream of moving to New Mexico. You'll feel a chill when someone opens a window in the winter, or notice a chill in the air on a cool day in September. Another kind of chill makes you shiver, but it's caused by illness and fever rather than a cold breeze: "Symptoms of the flu include chills and headache." A cold attitude is also a chill, as when a chill in the room makes you realize your friends are angry at each other.
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.
See Examples For:
In his newsletter, the Surge, Jim explains one story that’s essential for understanding the news, one story to keep an eye on, and one story that everyone needs to chill out about.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
Her character wears legwarmers and knit wristlets to the office as protection against the air conditioning, which also serves to emphasize her company’s interpersonal chill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
By Wednesday, the autumn chill will be firmly established and it is expected to be the first day since 11 June when temperatures fail to reach 20C anywhere in the UK.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
In a breezy July 2023 essay on his blog GatesNotes, he told everyone to chill out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
As suddenly as the sun disappeared behind the western dunes, the face of the mountain darkened, and a chill wind swept into the valley.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
By then, he was suffering from fever, chills, muscle pain, a sore throat and bleeding.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Few but the utterly guileless will be taken in by this, but the tactics available to Mr. Pineda still have the capacity to create tension, maybe even chills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Perhaps the production was so focused on making sure all the actors looked pallid, and every scene lifeless, that they forgot to add the thrills and chills.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
“When we saw coach Harbaugh come in and have that next-level intensity, you kind of get chills running down your spine,” defensive back Phil Bretsch said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
I spent the rest of the day in bed, racked by chills and cramping muscles, and choked down the leftover potato kugel and beef kishka that Mrs. Brenner kindly brought over for dinner.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
The measure is modeled on an Oregon law enacted last year that has chilled private-equity healthcare dealmaking in the state.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
By the time he got home, the fervor had chilled out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The phonebooth-sized machine, where jets of chilled air ensure ice-cold comfort, only launched this year but has proved popular in a country that seems to be getting inexorably warmer.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Just the sight of the glasses, dewy with condensation on the outside and filled to the rim with clinking ice, nearly chilled my body.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
We walked 9.7 miles to Spence Field Shelter, a modest distance even for us, but we were wet through and chilled, and anyway it was too far to hike to the next one.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
He’s both charming and chilling, expertly using a near-imperceptible shift in expression or tone to keep the audience on their toes.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
Aside from the chilling effect higher borrowing costs have on debt-dependent industries such as real estate, a higher ‘risk-free rate’ impacts how Wall Street values riskier assets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Oleksandr Pestrykov, an advocacy expert from the Ukrainian House foundation in Warsaw, told AFP that Ukrainians in Poland were feeling the effects of the chilling relations personally.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
The chilling encounter was captured in a surveillance camera recording that has racked up more than 2.3 million views on social media.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Jack followed her gaze, and noticed something chilling.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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.
