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
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.
“We’re not making this stuff up out of thin air,” said Fogelman, who also created the Hulu series “Paradise,” a post-apocalyptic political thriller.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 27, 2026
A little over 20 years ago, on March 14, 2006, the last mass-produced VHS tape hit video stores: David Cronenberg’s crime thriller “A History of Violence.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026
His last big on-screen appearance will come in the forthcoming action-crime thriller, Dirty Hands, opposite another of his Starship Trooper co-stars, Denise Richards.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
So was director Denis Villeneuve, who said Dune: Part III is more of a thriller than the first two instalments.
From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026
"You'll probably grow up to write those thriller movies where everyone's always screaming."
From "Miracle's Boys" by Jacqueline Woodson
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.
