- present participle of terrify.
terrifying
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
If something is terrifying, it makes you feel extremely afraid. Even if your little sister loves the scary roller coaster at the amusement park, you might still find it terrifying. Some people feel mildly alarmed when they see a small spider — if you have a phobia about spiders, discovering one in your bathtub is truly terrifying. This alarming adjective comes from the Latin root terrificus ("causing terror"), which it shares with terrific, a word whose meaning was originally just as scary.
Vocabulary lists containing terrifying
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.
But “that’s a conversation nobody wants to have because falling prices are great for buyers and absolutely terrifying for people who bought at the top,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
"It was extremely terrifying, beyond words. It's hard to imagine the situation," Mahmoud al-Tubasi told the BBC.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
The group pursuing McNulty was terrifying: Evenepoel, van der Poel, Seixas, del Toro, and others.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Although the encounter itself was terrifying, revelations about Shrine’s past have compounded her fears.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
All were good, interesting smells; but beneath them was the cold, terrifying scent of the Fast Wet.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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.
