hair-raiser vs excitation

hair-raiser and excitation both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
hair-raiser	Yes	No	No	No
excitation	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, excitation is a hypernym of hair-raiser; that is, excitation is a word with a broader meaning than hair-raiser:

hair-raiser: excitation that makes your hair stand up or that chills your bones
excitation: something that agitates and arouses

Other hypernyms of hair-raiser include excitement.

hair-raiser (noun)	excitation (noun)
excitation that makes your hair stand up or that chills your bones	something that agitates and arouses
	the neural or electrical arousal of an organ or muscle or gland
	the state of being emotionally aroused and worked up