terrify
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Related Words
See frighten.
Other Word Forms
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.
“I’m a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me,” read the headline of an essay for the liberal website Vox earlier this year.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 22, 2015
It seems Maroon 5 has been taking the “How to Terrify Women” class at the Robin Thicke School of Music.
From The Guardian • Oct. 1, 2014
Of my deep and grievous Sins they told me enow, but they forbore to Terrify me with Frightful Images of Unforgiving Wrath; speaking to me of Forgiveness alway, rather than of Torment.
From The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 1 Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave among the moors... by Sala, George Augustus
Then again, if he is anxious that you should catch a particular trout, which cannot be persuaded to rise, he always says, "Terrify him, sir; keep on terrifying of him."
From A Cotswold Village by Gibbs, J. Arthur
Terrify Lord Roos with it, if you choose.
From The Star-Chamber, Volume 1 An Historical Romance by Ainsworth, William Harrison
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.
