thriller

See also: Thriller

English

Etymology

From thrill +‎ -er (suffix: agent noun).

Pronunciation

• enPR: thrĭl′ər
• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɪl.ə/

  Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American, Canada, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɪl.əɹ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹəl.ɐ/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈt̪ʰɾi.ləɾ/
• Rhymes: -ɪlə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: thrill‧er

Noun

thriller (plural thrillers)

1. (generally) Something that thrills.
   • 2012 December 29, Paul Doyle, “Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     While Arsenal had enjoyed a Boxing Day break thanks to the cancellation of their game against West Ham, Newcastle had come out of the wrong end of a thriller at Old Trafford and Pardew said that strain accounted for his side conceding four goals at the Emirates after Demba Ba had drawn Newcastle level for the third time in the 69th minute.

3. (film, literature) A suspenseful, sensational genre of story, book, play, film.

   Synonym: pulp novel

   Hypernyms: detective story, mystery novel, whodunit, crime fiction

   Hyponyms: ecothriller, horror movie, hard-boiled crime fiction

   She loves to read thriller books.

4. (beverages) A sharp, usually sweetened herbal tea flavored with a fruit or berry.

Derived terms

• ecothriller

Translations

something that thrills

• Maori: pohopā, paki pohopā (a story/book)

a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction

• Arabic: إِثَارَة (ar) f (ʔiṯāra), (film) فِلْم مُثِيرَة f (film muṯīra), (novel) قِصَّة مُثِيرَة f (qiṣṣa muṯīra), قِصَّة مُثِيرَة f (qiṣṣa muṯīra), ثْرِيلَّر m (ṯrillar)
• Armenian: թրիլլեր (hy) (tʻriller)
• Belarusian: тры́лер m (trýljer)
• Bulgarian: три́лър m (trílǎr)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 驚悚 / 惊悚 (zh) (jīngsǒng)

• Czech: thriller m
• Danish: knaldroman c
• Dutch: thriller (nl) c
• Esperanto: trilero
• Estonian: triller
• Finnish: trilleri (fi), jännäri (fi), jännitysromaani (novel), jännityselokuva (movie), jännitysnäytelmä (play), jännityskertomus (rare, formal)
• French: polar (fr) m, thriller (fr) m
• Galician: suspense (gl)
• Georgian: თრილერი (trileri)
• German: Thriller (de) m
• Greek: θρίλερ (el) n (thríler)
• Hungarian: thriller (hu)
• Icelandic: reyfari m
• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: mencekam (id)
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: thriller (it) m
• Japanese: スリラー (surirā)
• Korean: 스릴러 (seurilleo)
• Latvian: trilleris m
• Lithuanian: trileris m
• Macedonian: три́лер m (tríler)
• Maori: paki pohopā (of a book), pikitia pohopā (of a film)
• Marathi: थ्रिलर (thrilar)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: grøsser

  Nynorsk: grøssar

• Persian: دلهره‌آور (delhore-âvar), مهیج (fa) (mohayyej)
• Polish: dreszczowiec (pl) m inan, thriller (pl) m inan, film sensacyjny m inan
• Portuguese: suspense (pt) m
• Romanian: thriller (ro) n
• Russian: три́ллер (ru) m (tríller)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: три̏лер m

  Roman: trȉler (sh) m

• Slovak: triler m
• Slovene: triler (sl) m
• Spanish: suspense m, thriller m, tríler m (Chile)
• Swedish: rysare (sv) c, thriller (sv) c
• Turkish: gerilim (tr)
• Ukrainian: три́лер m (trýler)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: iasoer (cy)

sharp, usually sweetened herbal tea

• Maori: please add this translation if you can

See also

• chiller
• page-turner

Czech

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English thriller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtrɪlɛr]
• Rhymes: -ɪlɛr
• Hyphenation: thril‧ler

Noun

thriller m inan

2. (film, literature) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction)

Declension

Declension of thriller (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	thriller	thrillery
genitive	thrilleru	thrillerů
dative	thrilleru	thrillerům
accusative	thriller	thrillery
vocative	thrillere	thrillery
locative	thrilleru	thrillerech
instrumental	thrillerem	thrillery

Further reading

• “thriller”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English thriller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtrɪ.lər/, [ˈθrɪ.lər]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlər
• Hyphenation: thril‧ler

Noun

thriller m (plural thrillers, diminutive thrillertje n)

2. (film, literature) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English thriller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁi.lœʁ/, (anglicized) /sʁi.lœʁ/
• Hyphenation: thril‧ler

Noun

thriller m (plural thrillers)

2. (film, literature) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction)

   Hyponym: éco-thriller

Derived terms

• éco-thriller

Further reading

• “thriller”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English thriller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtril.ler/
• Rhymes: -iller
• Hyphenation: thrìl‧ler

Noun

thriller m (invariable)

2. (film, literature) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction)

Further reading

• thriller in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• thriller in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English thriller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtri.lɛr/, /ˈtril.lɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ilɛr, -illɛr
• Syllabification: thril‧ler

Noun

thriller m inan

1. (film, literature) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of story, book, play, film)

   Synonym: dreszczowiec

   Hypernyms: dzieło, utwór

   Near-synonym: horror

   thriller opowiada o czymś ― thriller tells the story of something

   • 1929 April 6, Z. Gr., “Z literatury angielskiej”, in Tygodnik Illustrowany‎^[2], number 14, Warszawa: Unger, Józef, retrieved 27 April 2025, page 274:

     Jest to „thriller“ w całej rozciągłości i to z rozdaju kryminalno-awanturniczego, […].

     It is a “thriller” in its entirety and from the crime-avantage rift, […].

   • 2001 May 18, ma, “Próba sił”, in Wieczór Wybrzeża, quoted in Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego, Wrocław: Polskapresse, oddział Prasa Bałtycka, →ISSN:

     Horrory i thrillery cieszą się nieustającym powodzeniem u publiczności, która niezależnie od panującej aktualnie w kinie mody po prostu lubi się bać.

     Horror movies and thrillers enjoy continued success with audiences who, regardless of the current fashion in cinema, simply like to be scared.

   • 2006 April 14, Marcin Wilk, “Krakowska Lista Bestsellerów Książkowych”, in Dziennik Polski, quoted in Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego, Kraków: Jagiellonia, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Nowa książka amerykańskiej pisarki. Wielbiciele thrillerów psychologicznych zacierają ręce.

     A new book by an American writer. Fans of psychological thrillers cherish.

   • 2007 October 5, X, “Ring po amerykańsku”, in Polska Głos Wielkopolski, quoted in Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego, Poznań: Polskapresse, oddział Prasa Poznańska, →ISSN:

     „Niewidzialny” to anglojęzyczna wersja japońskiego thrillera, który opowiada o... pośmiertnych losach zamordowanego nastolatka.

     “The Invisible” is an English-language version of a Japanese thriller, that tells the story of... the posthumous fate of a murdered teenager.

   • 2009 July 2, Konrad Wągrowski, “Terminator: 10 najważniejszych filmów o podróżach w czasie”, in Esencja, number 05, quoted in Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego, Warszawa: Wągrowski, Konrad, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Niskonakładowy[,] mroczny thriller science fiction osiągnął zaskakujący sukces i otworzył wrota kariery dla Arnolda Schwarzeneggera i Jamesa Camerona.

     The low-budget[,] dark science fiction thriller was a surprising success and launched the careers of Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron.

Declension

Declension of thriller

	singular	plural
nominative	thriller	thrillery
genitive	thrillera	thrillerów
dative	thrillerowi	thrillerom
accusative	thriller	thrillery
instrumental	thrillerem	thrillerami
locative	thrillerze	thrillerach
vocative	thrillerze	thrillery

Further reading

• thriller in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• thriller in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English thriller.

Noun

thriller n (plural thrillere)

2. (film, literature) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction)

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	thriller	thrillerul		thrillere	thrillerele
genitive-dative	thriller	thrillerului		thrillere	thrillerelor
vocative	thrillerule			thrillerelor

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English thriller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθrileɾ/ [ˈθ̬ri.leɾ] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ˈsrileɾ/ [ˈzri.leɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)
• IPA^(key): /ˈtɾileɾ/ [ˈt̪ɾi.leɾ]
• Rhymes: -ileɾ
• Syllabification: thril‧ler

Noun

thriller m (plural thrillers or thriller)

2. (film, literature) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “thriller”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English thriller.

Noun

thriller c

2. (film, literature) thriller (a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction)

Declension

Declension of thriller

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	thriller	thrillers
	definite	thrillern	thrillerns
plural	indefinite	thrillers, thrillrar	thrillers, thrillrars
	definite	thrillrarna	thrillrarnas

Derived terms

• actionthriller
• dramathriller
• spionthriller
• thrillerdrama
• thrillerserie

References

• thriller in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• thriller in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• thriller in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)