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  1. frisson love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A moment of intense excitement; a shudder: The story's ending arouses a frisson of terror.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A sudden surge of excitement.
  2. n. A shiver.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an almost pleasurable sensation of fright

Etymologies

  1. From French frisson. (Wiktionary)
  2. French, from Old French fricons, pl. of fricon, a trembling, from Vulgar Latin *frīctiō, *frīctiōn-, from Latin frīgēre, to be cold. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • iarwain Sounds like something you want to get. May 15, 2009

  • reesetee I don't know...this word always sounds too much like frizzle for me to take it very seriously. Nov 16, 2007

  • chained_bear An emotional thrill. My favorite usage is "a frisson of horror," but others include:

    1777 Horace Walpole, Letters, 8 Oct. (1904) X. 130: "I tore open the sacred box with...little reverence... No holy frisson, no involuntary tear warned me."
    1920 "Public Opinion" 24 Sept. 290/1: "There had been a frisson of horror because the enemy was over the Marne." Feb 23, 2007

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‘frisson’ has been looked up 6324 times, loved by 25 people, added to 126 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 10.