thriller
Americannoun
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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.”
Etymology
Origin of thriller
1885–90; 1920–25 thriller for def. 2; thrill + -er 1
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.
The Dodgers won their second championship and, while this San Francisco Giants fan was not pleased, their seven-game thriller against the Toronto Blue Jays was a World Series for the ages.
From Los Angeles Times
The thrillers are all the more thrilling because of the investment made elsewhere.
From BBC
The Housemaid has been compared to domestic thrillers of the 1990s, like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct.
From BBC
This crime thriller sees six authors on a private island with 72 hours to write the ending of a book by the late bestselling writer, Arthur Fletch.
From BBC
When I photographed Laurence Fishburne for his role in the spy thriller “The Amateur,” I approached the session with a storyteller’s mindset.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
