thrill
/θɹɪl/UK[θɾ̪̊ɪɫ]
thrill verb: to suddenly excite someone, or to give someone great pleasure; to (figuratively) electrify; to experience such a sensation.
Verb (1)
thrill (third-person singular simple present thrills, present participle thrilling, simple past and past participle thrilled)
- To suddenly excite someone, or to give someone great pleasure; to (figuratively) electrify; to experience such a sensation.
- The cruel word her tender heart so thrilled,
That sudden cold did run through every vein.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 37 - vivid and picturesque turns of expression […] which thrill the reader with a sudden delight1854, Matthew Arnold, Preface to Poems
- Synonyms:
- rouse
- The cruel word her tender heart so thrilled,
- To (cause something to) tremble or quiver.
- To perforate by a pointed instrument; to bore; to transfix; to drill.
- he perced through his chaufed chest
With thrilling point of deadly yron brand1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 42
- he perced through his chaufed chest
- To hurl; to throw; to cast.
- I'd thrill my jauelin at the Grecian moysture1632, Thomas Heywood, The Iron Age
Noun
thrill (plural thrills)
- A trembling or quivering, especially one caused by emotion; a frisson.
- She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court
- A cause of sudden excitement; a kick.
- The thrill is gone / Gone, gone for me / I still live on, lonely though I'll be1951, Roy Hawkins, Rick Darnell, “The Thrill Is Gone”
- A slight quivering of the heart that accompanies a cardiac murmur.
- A breathing place or hole; a nostril, as of a bird.
Verb (2)
thrill (third-person singular simple present thrills, present participle thrilling, simple past and past participle thrilled)
thrill meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
thrill in Hindi
- suddenly excite someone, or to give someone great pleasure; to electrify
- सिहरन sihran
thrill in Tamil
- அதிர்வு, அதிர்வு நடுக்கம், இதயப்பேரொலி, குறுகுறுப்பு, தொடு உணர்வு அதிர்வு, பேரொலி
thrill in Urdu
- سنسنی, چھدنا, چھیدنا
thrill in Bengali
- তীব্র উত্তেজনার অনুভূতি, রোমাঞ্চ, শিহরণ, পুলক, রোমাঞ্চিত করা, শিহরিত হওয়া
More languagesFewer languages
- thrill in Telugu
- థ్రిల్ చేయడానికి
- thrill in Malayalam
- രോമാഞ്ചം rōmāñcaṁ, തരിപ്പിക്കുക tarippikkuka, തരിപ്പ് tarippŭ
- thrill in Kannada
- ಪಸಿಯಿಸುಗೆ, ಪುಳಕ, ರೋಮಾಂಚನ, ಭಾವಪರವಶತೆ
- thrill in Punjabi
- ਰੋਮਾਂਚ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
Examples of thrill in a sentence
- The clean thrill of getting the right answer gave me a sense of efficacy and rootedness.
- On a more serious note, the thrill, the rush of a ‘fight or flight’ situation is unmatchable.
- The thrill of eventually finding a job is quickly offset by her untreated depression.
Synonyms of thrill
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of thrill
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | thrills |
| present participle | thrilling |
| past participle | thrilled |
| past | thrilled |
| Noun | |
| plural | thrills |
Origin of thrill
From Old English þȳrlian (“to pierce”), derived from þȳrel (“hole”) (archaic English thirl). Doublet of thirl (verb).
Blend of thread (verb) + drill (verb).
Words formed from thrill
Phrases with thrill
Words that rhyme with thrill
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- chill
- drill
- Seville
- will
- skill
- still
- frill
- mil
- sill
- swill
- fulfill
- goodwill
- till
- until
- brazil
- downhill
- prill
- quadrille
- shill
- shrill
- Chapel Hill
- jill
- McGill
- nill
- squill
- trill
- uphill
- Walton-on-the-Hill
- Baskerville
- dill
- grille
- he'll
- instill
- Ithkuil
- krill
- manille
- nil
- phil
- purple pill
- refill
- remill
- rill
- thill
- twill
- vill
- vril
- 'til
- 'twill
Questions about thrill
- What does thrill mean?
- Thrill means to suddenly excite someone, or to give someone great pleasure; to (figuratively) electrify; to experience such a sensation.
- What is thrill in Hindi?
- Thrill in Hindi is सिहरन (sihran). See Thrill meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is thrill?
- Thrill can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce thrill?
- Thrill is pronounced /θɹɪl/.
- What is the past tense of thrill?
- The past tense of thrill is thrilled.
Words near thrill in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: thrill (page history and authors); thrill (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thrill (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thrill (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thrill (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); തരിപ്പിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); thrill (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thrill (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-thrill.ogg.
Cite this entry: “thrill.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thrill. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.