hair-raiser

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hair-raiser
thriller
Noun
  • The studio’s live-action division also continues to develop projects including action thriller Seventeen; Crumble, to be written and directed by Brian Duffield, with Phil Lord and Chris Miller producing; and an untitled pic marking the directorial debut of Dune scribe Jon Spaihts.
    Matt Grobar, Deadline, 6 June 2025
  • Remember, the Pacers needed six 3s in about five minutes from Aaron Nesmith in Game 1 against New York just to set up Haliburton’s previous thriller.
    Joe Vardon, New York Times, 6 June 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hair-raiser.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hair-raiser. Accessed 11 Jun. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!