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frisson

[ free-sohn; French free-sawn ]

noun

, plural fris·sons [free-, sohnz, f, r, ee-, sawn].
  1. a sudden, passing sensation of excitement; a shudder of emotion; thrill:

    The movie offers the viewer the occasional frisson of seeing a character in mortal danger.



frisson

/ frisɔ̃ /

noun

  1. a shudder or shiver; thrill
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of frisson1

First recorded in 1770–80; from French: “shiver, shudder,” Old French friçons (plural), from Late Latin frictiōnem, accusative of frictiō “shiver” (taken as derivative of frīgēre “to be cold”), from Latin: “massage, friction”; friction
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Word History and Origins

Origin of frisson1

C18 (but in common use only from C20): literally: shiver
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Example Sentences

That said, and with no disrespect to those raucous souls who packed Madison Square Garden more than a century ago, I think there’s a limit for how long the frisson of an indoor race can be sustained.

By the same token, however, one wonders whether civilian life might lack the intensity, the frisson, of elite-level competition.

I am not exaggerating when I say the frisson was palpable when the spirit of my defunct profile showed up reinvigorated on my phone.

From Digiday

He’s not motivated by a bounty hunter’s mentality, he explained in an email — rather, he chases after the frisson of delight that curious counterexamples can give.

The rhythmic frisson in the music is much better at creating metaphysical side effects than the singer is at describing them, but there’s still mystery and melancholy in that riddle of an album title, “Future Nostalgia.”

You know, a novel comes not from a decision but a frisson, a sort of shiver that goes through you.

A farm comes with all sorts of things to add a little frisson to the pursuit of happiness, give it an edge.

This gives family gatherings a certain frisson of danger under normal circumstances.

As the crowd sucked down the debate happy-hour specials in the hours before the debate, a worried frisson settled over them.

A great work of fiction involves a certain frisson that occurs when its various components cohere and then ignite.

It is here that he communicates to us the nouveau frisson, here that he does what no one else has done.

Ive managed the frisson (womans touch), some colour-sensations, sublimities, etc.

I waved my hand, and had soon left rue Robert le Frisson far behind me.

No purely physical theory can interpret all the mystery of the frisson.

And the appetite that drove her to ask for more, that was the only sauce–an appetite that was a frisson.

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