chill

CEFRC1

/tʃɪl/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A feeling of coldness.

  2. 02

    verb

    To make something cold or become cold.

Examples

  • The chill of coming winter discouraged our picnic.

  • Close the window or you'll catch a chill.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /dʒɪl(lɯ)/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To relax and spend time calmly.

More examples

In context

  • I felt a chill when the wind picked up.

  • There was a chill in the air.

  • I have a chill.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

A sudden cold blank in the air made everyone grab their jackets quickly.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.