blood-curdling

blood-curdling (comparative more blood-curdling, superlative most blood-curdling)

1. Causing terror or horror.

   Synonym: blood-chilling

   A blood-curdling scream was heard in the haunted house.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     `Yes, yes,' said the other, and chuckled in a rather blood-curdling tone.

   • 2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     As the van hurtled towards her, she threw the bag at the bonnet of the van. As it struck, she let out a blood-curdling scream, as if she had been run over. “AAAAARRR GGGGHHHH!!!!!!”

• “blood-curdling”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.