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chill

/tʃɪl/
/tʃɪl/
IPA guide

Other forms: chilled; chills

A sharp burst of cold air or icy temperatures is a chill. The chill of a January day in New England might make you dream of moving to New Mexico.

You'll feel a chill when someone opens a window in the winter, or notice a chill in the air on a cool day in September. Another kind of chill makes you shiver, but it's caused by illness and fever rather than a cold breeze: "Symptoms of the flu include chills and headache." A cold attitude is also a chill, as when a chill in the room makes you realize your friends are angry at each other.

Definitions of chill
  1. noun
    coldness due to a cold environment
    synonyms: gelidity, iciness
  2. noun
    a sensation of cold that often marks the start of an infection and the development of a fever
    synonyms: shivering
    see moresee less
    type of:
    symptom
    (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease
  3. verb
    make cool or cooler
    Chill the food”
    synonyms: cool, cool down
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    types:
    quench
    cool (hot metal) by plunging into cold water or other liquid
    ice
    put ice on or put on ice
    refrigerate
    cool or chill in or as if in a refrigerator
    type of:
    alter, change, modify
    cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
  4. verb
    loose heat
    synonyms: cool, cool down
    see moresee less
    type of:
    change state, turn
    undergo a transformation or a change of position or action
  5. verb
    depress or discourage
    “The news of the city's surrender chilled the soldiers”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    cast down, deject, demoralise, demoralize, depress, dismay, dispirit, get down
    lower someone's spirits; make downhearted
  6. noun
    a sudden numbing dread
    synonyms: pall
    see moresee less
    type of:
    apprehension, apprehensiveness, dread
    fearful expectation or anticipation
  7. noun
    an almost pleasurable sensation of fright
    see moresee less
    type of:
    fear, fearfulness, fright
    an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)
Pronunciation
US
/tʃɪl/
UK
/tʃɪl/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘chill'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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