as in thriller
something (as a close contest) that induces much suspense as to its outcome
since they had been dating for five years, her answer to his proposal wasn't exactly a hair-raiser
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Recent Examples of hair-raiser
And the Halloween-eve hair-raiser adds a cackling skeleton to a horror arcade of ghoulish news for EVs.
—
Shawn Tully, Fortune, 30 Oct. 2023
Shawn Tully, Fortune, 30 Oct. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hair-raiser
thriller
Noun
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The film received the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films’ best thriller award in 2025, as well as the STIGES Film Festival Grand People’s Choice Award.—
Borys Kit,
HollywoodReporter,
24 July 2025
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Set against a backdrop of music, madness and raw unpredictability of nature, the film follows a meet-cute that spirals into a survival thriller.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
24 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hair-raiser.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hair-raiser. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.
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