electrify
Americanverb (used with object)
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to charge with or subject to electricity; apply electricity to.
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to supply (a region, community, etc.) with electric power.
The valley wasn't electrified until 1936.
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to equip for the use of electric power, as a railroad.
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to excite greatly; thrill.
to electrify an audience.
verb
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to adapt or equip (a system, device, etc) for operation by electrical power
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to charge with or subject to electricity
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to startle or excite intensely; shock or thrill
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reelectrificationnoun
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unelectrifiedadjective
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proelectrificationadjective
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nonelectrifiedadjective
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unelectrifyingadjective
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electrifiableadjective
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electrificationnoun
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electrifiernoun
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reelectrifyverb (used with object)
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nonelectrificationnoun
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has electrifiedperfect 3rd person singular
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have electrifiedperfect
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has been electrifyingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are electrifyingprogressive
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am electrifyingprogressive 1st person singular
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is electrifyingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been electrifyingperfect progressive
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electrifyingparticiple
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electrifiessingular 3rd person
Past
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had electrifiedperfect
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were electrifyingprogressive plural
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had been electrifyingperfect progressive
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was electrifyingprogressive singular
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electrifiedsimple
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electrifiedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of electrify
Explanation
Electrify means to make something electric — either literally or figuratively. You can electrify a house by wiring it so the occupants will have lights, or you can electrify a boring party by getting everyone laughing. A captivating person might electrify every room she enters. Maybe it’s her laugh, maybe it’s the way she talks with her hands, maybe it’s the zany scarves she wears. Something about her gets everyone going. In a related sense, electrify can also describe what the electrician does to a house — she wires it so that the lights, computers, and television can all be plugged in and operate properly.
Vocabulary lists containing electrify
"The Civil Rights Movement"
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
