thriller
Americannoun
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a person or thing that thrills.
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an exciting, suspenseful play or story, especially a mystery story.
noun
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a book, film, play, etc, depicting crime, mystery, or espionage in an atmosphere of excitement and suspense
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a person or thing that thrills
Discover More
In Great Britain, the word thriller is sometimes used for all mystery novels: “Martha Grimes, an American, writes British-style thrillers.”
Etymology
Origin of thriller
1885–90; 1920–25 thriller for def. 2; thrill + -er 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And after resolving a plagiarism dispute that delayed its release last year, the French-language thriller “The Hunt,” about a deadly encounter between two groups of hunters, is finally landing on March 4.
From MarketWatch
Among his many works of fiction were political thrillers, historical epics and drolly observed comedies.
The poise of the prose somehow heightens the tension of this superbly crafted story, a thriller that shows how the animosities of war live on beyond the fighting.
They were ideas of memories that could change,” Domingues says of the Brazilian period thriller about a father on the run during an interview at The Times newsroom.
From Los Angeles Times
The fight for Warner Bros. promises to upend the entertainment industry forever–and like all great thrillers everyone is left guessing until the end.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
