pulse-pounding

Adjective

pulse-pounding (comparative more pulse-pounding, superlative most pulse-pounding)

1. That increases the heartbeat rate, especially as a result of excitement or fear.
   • All the thrills, chills and spills of pulse-pounding sport adventure! […] 150,000 words of thrill-packed sports text gives you the pulse-pounding story … how the Big Ten grew from a small-time bunch of upstart Westerners into the nation's mightiest collegiate conference …1967 September, “Announcing … The Big Ten [advertisement]”, in Robert G. Forman, editor, The Michigan Alumnus, volume LXXIV, number 1, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Alumni Association of the University of...
   • The superbly crafted suspense thriller that director Jonathan Demme has made from Thomas Harris's taut best-selling novel The Silence of the Lambs slams you like a sudden blast of bone-chilling, pulse-pounding terror.1991 February 14, Peter Travers, “The Silence of the Lambs [film review]”, in Rolling Stone, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2017

   Synonyms:

   exciting, terrifying, absorbing, alacrifying, awesome, banging, bracing, hot, compelling, distracting

   Antonyms:

   boring, dull, uninteresting, banal, basic, mindless, beat, blah, commonplace, bland