white-knuckle
Americanadjective
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causing fear, apprehension, or panic.
The plane made a white-knuckle approach to the fogged-in airport.
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experiencing fear, terror, or apprehension.
The white-knuckle crowd loved that director's newest horror movie.
adjective
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.
U.S. energy stocks have vaulted upward despite white-knuckle moments when oil prices seesawed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
So, in a new year, while we’re still holding onto resolutions with a white-knuckle grip, these are a few things that film culture should leave on the cutting room floor.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2026
Perched 8,750 feet up in a box canyon in the Colorado Rockies, it’s reachable only by twisting roads or a white-knuckle drop into one of the nation’s highest airports.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2025
It must have felt as though the royal world, used to travelling at the sedate pace of a carriage, had turned into a white-knuckle ride.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2024
The effort made him dizzy, and he had to white-knuckle the wood until his head cleared.
From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker
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.
