horripilate
/hɔ'ripileit/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To cause someone's hair to stand on end and to produce goosebumps, typically as a reaction to fear, cold, or intense emotion.
- Verb (intransitive):
- To experience one's own hair standing on end and the formation of goosebumps.
Usage
- Transitive Verb: The subject causes the reaction in an object.
- Intransitive Verb: The subject experiences the reaction themselves.
Examples
- Transitive Verb:
- The eerie sound in the abandoned house was enough to horripilate even the bravest explorer.
- Classic horror stories have the power to horripilate their readers.
- Intransitive Verb:
- I horripilate whenever I hear that chilling melody.
- She horripilated from the sudden, icy draft.
Advanced Usage
- Medical/Physiological Context: The term describes the pilomotor reflex, where arrector pili muscles contract.
- The patient reported a tendency to horripilate in response to cold, a common autonomic response.
- Literary/Descriptive Context: Used for vivid description of a physical reaction to strong stimuli.
- The revelation was so shocking it made him horripilate.
Variants and Related Words
- Horripilation (noun): The condition or instance of having goosebumps or one's hair standing on end.
- A wave of horripilation swept over her as she entered the crypt.
Synonyms
- Transitive: Give someone goosebumps, make one's hair stand on end, give someone the creeps.
- Intransitive: Get goosebumps, have one's hair stand on end, shudder.
Notes
- This is a formal and somewhat rare word, often found in literary, medical, or descriptive contexts rather than everyday conversation.
- The reaction it describes is involuntary and is linked to the sympathetic nervous system.
Verb
- cause (someone's) hair to stand on end and to have goosebumps
- Hitchcock movies horripilate me
- have one's hair stand on end and get goosebumps
- I horripilate when I see violence on television