terrify

[ter-uh-fahy]

verb (used with object)

terrified, terrifying 

1. to fill with terror or alarm; make greatly afraid.

terrify

/ ˈtɛrɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. (tr) to inspire fear or dread in; frighten greatly

Other Word Forms

• terrifier noun
• terrifyingly adverb
• unterrified adjective
• unterrifying adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of terrify¹

1565–75; < Latin terrificāre, equivalent to terr ( ēre ) to frighten + -ificāre -ify

Word History and Origins

Origin of terrify¹

C16: from Latin terrificāre, from terrēre to alarm + facere to cause

Synonym Study

See frighten.

Example Sentences

"When I came out of that, I stopped the hunger strikes because I was a bit terrified of how far I went," he says.

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The only person to show up on the departure date, however, is Ada, 22, a seamstress and house cleaner who is terrified of polar bears.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A mysterious infection that weakened its hosts’ immune systems was killing people at a terrifying rate, while the Reagan administration downplayed and openly joked about the disease.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

When she loses her cycle, she is forced to run up the helix of a parking garage at normal human speed, giving a pathetic comedic element to someone who ought to be terrifying.

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Skeletal replicas of the terrifying mosasaur, a Komodo Dragon relative with a six-foot jaw; the saber-toothed salmon; and other extinct species greet visitors in the museum’s entrance hall.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• alarm 
• awe 
• dismay 
• frighten 
• horrify 
• intimidate 
• petrify 
• shock 
• startle 
• stun 
• terrorize