Chilling

Today, you’ll hear that the photographs of the terrible fires in Greece are chilling. Usually, “chill” means to cool something—to lower its temperature. But in this case, it means frightening. Photos are chilling because they are frightening: they cause you to imagine the terrible pain that people in Mati, Greece, must have felt. In court, you might hear chilling testimony about a crime: the words of a witness might describe a frightening crime.