hair-raising

[hair-rey-zing]

adjective

1. terrifying or horrifying.

   We had a hair-raising brush with death.

hair-raising

adjective

1. inspiring horror; terrifying

   a hair-raising drop of 600 feet

Other Word Forms

• hair-raiser noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hair-raising¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

“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.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

While thousands packed the stands at Blundell Park, others watched the hair-raising action unfold from the comfort of their living rooms.

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In contextualizing the visceral action, the cinematographer isolated the character from the stark environment, illustrating his hyperfocused, meticulous nature as the hair-raising tension builds.

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Take the 2015 film Victoria, a hair-raising, two-hour and 20 minute feature film that its makers say was shot in a single take.

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The same federal government that is having hair-raising difficulty with basic functions like air traffic control, is now looking to spend billions to double down on rounding up immigrants.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• breathtaking 
• chilling 
• electrifying www.thesaurus.com
• frightening www.thesaurus.com
• shocking 
• suspenseful www.thesaurus.com
• terrifying