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
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Recent Examples of hair-raiser
The streamer has a deep bench of horror films from all eras of cinema among its offerings, from influential classics like Nosferatu (1922) to newer hair-raisers like Possessor (2020), and all kinds of thrillers and chillers in between.
—
Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Jan. 2026
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
Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Jan. 2026
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
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In the 1990s, historical dramas of scale were more familiar, same with a sexy thriller.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
14 Feb. 2026
-
Thirty-five years ago, moviegoers gobbled up director Jonathan Demme‘s thriller that hit theaters in the dead of winter.—
Ryan Gajewski,
HollywoodReporter,
14 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hair-raiser.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hair-raiser. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
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