Meaning & use
chill
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Meanings
nounusually singular
A feeling of unpleasant coldness in the air or in your body.
Grammar: Often with a: a chill in the air; also you can catch a chill.
Patterns
- a chill in the air
- catch a chill
There was a chill in the air as the sun went down.
He caught a chill after standing in the rain for an hour.
A damp chill crept into the old house.
nounusually singularfigurative
A sudden feeling of fear or dread, sometimes felt as a shiver.
Grammar: Often appears as send a chill down your spine.
Patterns
- a chill of fear
- send a chill down someone's spine
The strange whisper sent a chill down her spine.
A chill of fear ran through him when he heard the footsteps.
The news brought a chill to the room.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To make something cold, or to become cold.
Grammar: Takes an object when you cool something: chill the wine; without one, a drink chills in the fridge.
Patterns
- chill something
- chill in the fridge
Chill the dessert for two hours before serving.
The wine chilled in the fridge all afternoon.
A cold wind chilled the hikers to the bone.
verbintransitiveinformalslang
To relax and spend time doing nothing demanding.
Grammar: No object; often followed by out or at home: chill out.
Patterns
- chill out
- chill at home
- chill with someone
I am just going to chill at home this weekend.
We chilled on the beach all afternoon.
Chill out; the train is not leaving yet.
adjectivecomparableinformalslang
Relaxed, easygoing and calm.
Grammar: A casual word, used after be: she is really chill.
Patterns
- be chill
- a chill person
Our new teacher is really chill about deadlines.
It was a chill party with a few friends.
He stayed chill even when the plan fell through.
Word forms
| plural | chills |
|---|---|
| third person singular | chills |
| past tense | chilled |
| past participle | chilled |
| -ing form | chilling |
Common combinations
- chill out
- After the exam, we chilled out in the park.
- a chill in the air
- There is a chill in the air tonight, so bring a coat.
- catch a chill
- Wear a hat so you don't catch a chill.
- send a chill down your spine
- The old song sent a chill down his spine.
- chill to the bone
- The icy wind chilled us to the bone.
- chill pill
- Take a chill pill; it was only a joke.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cool
- Cool describes a mild lowering of temperature, whereas chill is sharper and often unpleasant.
- shiver
- Shiver is the physical shaking caused by a chill rather than the feeling of cold itself.
- relax
- Relax is the neutral word, while chill, in this sense, is casual slang.
- dread
- Dread is a lasting fear of what is coming, whereas a chill is a sudden shiver of fear.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: chill or chilly?
chill vs chilly
Chilly is an adjective meaning rather cold, while chill is mainly the noun or verb: it is chilly today, but there is a chill in the air.
Practice
Which sentence uses chill in the informal sense of relaxing?
Choose one answer.
Chill at my place means to relax casually. The other sentences refer to cold, cooling a drink or a feeling of fear.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chill”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.