thriller
Americannoun
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thrillers
plural
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a person or thing that thrills.
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an exciting, suspenseful play or story, especially a mystery story.
noun
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a book, film, play, etc, depicting crime, mystery, or espionage in an atmosphere of excitement and suspense
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a person or thing that thrills
Discover More
In Great Britain, the word thriller is sometimes used for all mystery novels: “Martha Grimes, an American, writes British-style thrillers.”
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of thriller
1885–90; 1920–25 thriller for def. 2; thrill + -er 1
Explanation
A thriller is a suspenseful movie, TV show, book, or play. If you love thrillers, you probably enjoy mysterious plots, suspicious characters, and being on the edge of your seat. Thrillers are known for being exciting and sometimes scary, evoking emotions like anticipation, fear, and suspense. They tend to use plot twists and cliffhangers to keep an audience or reader intrigued, and they often feature a villain. The literary label thriller first appeared in the late 1800s, from the verb thrill, "give a shivering, excited feeling."
Vocabulary lists containing thriller
Literary Genres - Introductory
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Literary Genres - Advanced
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Reading: Literature - Literary Genres - Middle School
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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:
Kilmarnock were the first team into the last eight after beating Ayrshire rivals Ayr United in a five-goal thriller.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
But I do believe to effectively assemble a thriller, a writer must contemplate all that is possible in the present to realistically construct what dark, fearful deeds are plausible in the future.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Matthew McConaughey had plenty of reasons to select "The Rivals of Amziah King," a honey-themed thriller set in the American Southwest, for his return to the big screen after more than five years away.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
She met Abbott when they worked together on the 2020 psychological thriller “Black Bear.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
"You'll probably grow up to write those thriller movies where everyone's always screaming."
From "Miracle's Boys" by Jacqueline Woodson
Reggie Bannister, the actor who devoted his decades-long career primarily to independent horror thrillers including all five films of the the cult “Phantasm” franchise, has died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Two thrillers, unalike in style and attitude yet with much in common, arrive Wednesday to television.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The club mainly focuses on different aspects of the romance genre – this month's pick is a cowboy romance, although she is open to other types of books such as thrillers.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Like many Hitchcock thrillers, it is much more than an astute exercise in suspense and, once seen, lurks forever in the memory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The bookshelf is full of Mom’s favorite thrillers, but I can’t seem to get into any of them.
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
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.
