Frisson

//fɹiˈsoʊn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sudden surge of excitement.

    "I felt a frisson just as they were about to announce the winner in my category."

  2. 2
    an almost pleasurable sensation of fright wordnet
  3. 3
    A shiver; a thrill.

    "Whenever the villain's theme played in the movie I felt a sudden frisson down my back."

Synonyms

All synonyms
chillquivershivershudderthrilltingle

Example

More examples

"I felt a frisson just as they were about to announce the winner in my category."

Etymology

Borrowed from French frisson.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.