blood-chilling.

Causing an intense sensation of fear or dread.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a blood-chilling cry
• a blood-chilling account

On the page

A blood-chilling cry came from the sealed stairwell and stopped the conversation.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic. Forms: Comparative more blood-chilling; superlative most blood-chilling when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description, atmosphere. Commonness: moderately common.