terrify
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Related Words
See frighten.
Other Word Forms
- terrifier noun
- terrifyingly adverb
- unterrified adjective
- unterrifying adjective
Etymology
Origin of terrify
1565–75; < Latin terrificāre, equivalent to terr ( ēre ) to frighten + -ificāre -ify
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.
During that time Gemma said she found it hard to cope with Victoria's death as she was "terrified" and concerned about her own safety.
From BBC
But Mr. Williams understands that telling the story properly requires acknowledging the forgotten citizen of New York City in the 1980s—the wary pedestrian and the terrified straphanger.
Anastasia's school was going to be called junior high, and his sister had confessed to him, "Sam, I am terrified about going to junior high."
From Literature
“It terrified me. I thought, how am I ever going to retire?” she asked.
From Los Angeles Times
The skiers who are more intimately familiar with 3,442 meters of treacherous, steep and terrifyingly icy surfaces tend to use a more chilling description.
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.
