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Added 8 October 2026

chill

/tʃɪl/ noun

Categories: Describing WordsFeelingsUncommon Words

In Latin: algor Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about chill at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A moderate, but uncomfortable and penetrating coldness.
    There was a chill in the air.
  2. A sudden penetrating sense of cold, especially one that causes a brief trembling nerve response through the body; the trembling response itself; often associated with illness: fevers and chills, or susceptibility to illness.
    Close the window or you'll catch a chill.
  3. An uncomfortable and numbing sense of fear, dread, anxiety, or alarm, often one that is sudden and usually accompanied by a trembling nerve response resembling the body's response to biting cold.
    Despite the heat, he felt a chill as he entered the crime scene.

adjective

  1. Moderately cold or chilly.
    A chill wind was blowing down the street.
  2. Unwelcoming; not cordial.
    Arriving late at the wedding, we were met with a chill reception.
  3. Calm, relaxed, easygoing.
    The teacher is really chill and doesn't care if you use your phone during class.

verb

  1. To lower the temperature of something; to cool.
    Chill before serving.
  2. To become cold.
    In the wind he chilled quickly.
  3. To harden a metal surface by sudden cooling.

noun

  1. A kind of lamp that burns fish oil.

Origin

From Middle English chele, chile, from Old English ċiele, ċele (“cold; coldness”), from Proto-West Germanic *kali, from Proto-Germanic *kaliz, from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to be cold”). Closely related with Dutch kil. Also akin to cool, cold, gel, and congeal, which see.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: chillyicinessgeliditycoolquivertinglepallfrissonshiveringshiverthrill

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