spine-chilling

[spahyn-chil-ing]

adjective

1. very frightening or horrifying.

spine-chilling

adjective

1. (of a book, film, etc) arousing terror

Word History and Origins

Origin of spine-chilling¹

First recorded in 1945–50; spine ( def. ) + chilling ( def. )

Example Sentences

While his decimation of any semblance of Justice Department independence is troubling, it’s downright spine-chilling when it comes to elections.

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The best film goes first: It’s about a father-daughter camping trip that goes horribly wrong at the hands of a creepy-looking park ranger and, in a spine-chilling scene, living sand.

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Dahlia Lithwick looks at how his rhetoric has been getting even more spine-chilling of late, and why we can’t afford to lose sight of what’s at stake.

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As Trump openly described his rationale for his plans last week in the most spine-chilling language yet, undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

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To visit the spine-chilling inside of Vecna’s mind, head to 10th Avenue West in Queen Anne where it meets West Bothwell Street.

Read more on Seattle Times

Related Words

• cruel 
• demonic 
• devilish 
• eerie 
• frightening www.thesaurus.com
• ghastly 
• grim 
• grisly 
• gruesome 
• horrible 
• macabre 
• morbid 
• spooky