chilly
Americanadjective
-
chillier,
comparative
-
chilliest
superlative
-
mildly cold or producing a sensation of cold; causing shivering; chill.
a chilly breeze.
-
feeling cold; sensitive to cold.
Her hands were chilly.
-
without warmth of feeling; cool.
a chilly reply.
-
producing or likely to produce a feeling of fear; frightening.
He told a chilly story of ghosts and murder.
adverb
adjective
-
causing or feeling cool or moderately cold
-
without warmth; unfriendly
-
(of people) sensitive to cold
Synonym Usage
See cold.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of chilly
Explanation
Did someone leave a window open? It's chilly in here! That word means "cold," and it can also mean that someone's acting in a frosty way. The main meaning of chilly is cold, but this word is often used for emotions too, just like "warm." A warm person is loving and kind, but a chilly person is unemotional, distant, and quiet. Chilly people are often called "aloof" — another word for someone who's not acting like a people person. "After you turned them in for cheating on their homework, they gave you a chilly reception."
Vocabulary lists containing chilly
Wintry Words
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Chill Out! Synonyms for "Cold"
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Sula
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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:
On a chilly Saturday morning in December 1976, postman Nigel Rossiter pulled up outside the isolated Ffynon Samson farmhouse in west Wales.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
It gets pretty chilly at night in Las Vegas when the grand prix is on, and the track surface there is especially non-abrasive.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
But May’s impenetrable froideur toward Lotta makes life chilly for everyone around her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
She chose to spend her final days at the same family farmhouse near Cleveland whose chilly drafts she once fled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
A chilly breeze rustled through the woods and a gust of white dogwood petals blew into the clearing.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Ads on “cooler screens,” i.e., digital ads projected on the doors of refrigerated cases in supermarkets, get a much chillier reception, with 41% of respondents viewing them negatively, the report found.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Although much of Southern California is too warm for the fruit, Leona Valley sits at about 3,500 feet elevation, giving it chillier winter nights.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
With spooky season in full swing, curating fall vibes is essential to truly enjoying our chillier months.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2025
Lately, though, the dynamic between Jackson and Gorsuch—on the bench and in opinions—has grown chillier, a trend that Stanley confirms.
From Slate ● Jun. 23, 2025
Jack Dandy’s smile grew wider and chillier and even more perfect.
From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
Friday night will also be the chilliest for quite some time with temperatures widely dropping into single digits.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
The actress asked Wintour what she thought of her dress, to which Wintour put on her shades—and her chilliest tone—and said, “And the nominees are.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2026
The chilliest, darkest place in the unseen ocean of the soul.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2025
The month ended up 1.6 degrees below the norm and was the chilliest in five years.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 14, 2023
She may speak for hours, freeze me with her chilliest smile, my thought ever escapes her, will always escape her.
From Artists' Wives by Laura Ensor
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.
