terrify
Americanverb (used with object)
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terrifies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
terrified,
past participle, past
-
terrifying
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
See frighten.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
terrifysimple
-
terrifiessimple
-
have terrifiedperfect
-
has terrifiedperfect
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am terrifyingprogressive
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are terrifyingprogressive
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is terrifyingprogressive
-
have been terrifyingperfect progressive
-
has been terrifyingperfect progressive
Past
-
terrifiedsimple
-
had terrifiedperfect
-
was terrifyingprogressive
-
were terrifyingprogressive
-
had been terrifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of terrify
1565–75; < Latin terrificāre, equivalent to terr ( ēre ) to frighten + -ificāre -ify
Explanation
If you terrify someone, that person is enormously frightened of you. The verb terrify is closely related to the word terror, and its Latin root is terrificus, "causing terror." While some people might say that monsters terrify them, others are terrified by heights, snakes, or speaking in public. If there's something that makes you feel a deep, horrible sense of fear, it terrifies you.
Vocabulary lists containing terrify
"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry
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"In the Spotlight," Vocabulary from the informational text
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The House of Hades
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The backrooms seem to exist in part to terrify entrants into redirecting their energies toward better life choices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
"Either to terrify the residents and force them to move," he said, "or to put pressure on the Lebanese army to confront people."
From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2025
Here’s the part that should terrify everyone buying “AI-powered trading systems” in 2025: Even now, with every firm on Wall Street running the same technology, Medallion still beats them.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 15, 2025
“I’ve come to view Jesus the way I’ve come to view Elvis. I love the guy, but some of the fan clubs terrify me.”
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2025
Until Mrs. Cameron did that tilt-down-her-glasses-and-glare-over-them thing she did to terrify everybody into total silence.
From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein
"Some of these dogs shouldn't be going home… that terrifies me, that they're going to be coming back in. And dogs have gone home that have bitten and come back," he says.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
The Sublime, Edmund Burke wrote in 1757, terrifies in darkness, but when its effects are managed and ordered, we call them beauty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
“You’re walking into a very, very conflictual relationship with the U.S.—and that terrifies me. But I’m not sure if there’s any way around it. Aren’t we actually already there?”
From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2026
As Sailor settles into her new job on Alcatraz, she begins to shake things up, which both thrills and terrifies Camille, who has always kept her head down and followed the rules.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
Suddenly, the thought of leaving forever terrifies me.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
A patient arrived at a Denver emergency room one night terrified that he was having a heart attack.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
“I was terrified someone would ask me what I was doing next.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
A Times reporter in Long Beach said it woke up them up and terrified their pet cat, which hid under a dining room table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Mohammed, a 33-year-old charity worker who fled from Mocha to the city of Aden, told AFP that "people there are terrified" of the Houthis.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The terrified baroness extended a shaking hand toward the sheeted painting.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
"That this coming event is worse than that, after three intervening global bleaching events ... is a terrifying reality," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
The massive success of “Station Eleven” allowed her to quit her admin job to pursue the life of a full-time novelist and television writer, a move she says was terrifying.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
"It's both the most terrifying thing that can happen to you, whether you're a parent, or even if you're not," he told BBC News at the film's screening at London Film Festival.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Norway’s scoring machine on terrifying his opponents—and the surreal World Cup summer that turned him into much more than a soccer star.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
“Ali, what are you thinking?” she snapped, looking all the more terrifying with her eyes burning at me.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
