Also spelled blood-curdling
adj
Freq #71856
Meanings
-
1
adj
causing extreme fear or horror
A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the empty house.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
More
nightmarish
Opposites
Word family
Derived forms
bloodcurdlingly
Related forms
blood-chilling
Etymology
A compound of blood + curdling, based on the old figurative idea that intense fear can make the blood curdle or congeal. The hyphenated spelling blood-curdling remains common.