electrify
Americanverb (used with object)
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electrifies,
present (3rd person singular)
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electrified,
past participle, past
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electrifying
present participle
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to charge with or subject to electricity; apply electricity to.
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to supply (a region, community, etc.) with electric power.
The valley wasn't electrified until 1936.
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to equip for the use of electric power, as a railroad.
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to excite greatly; thrill.
to electrify an audience.
verb
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to adapt or equip (a system, device, etc) for operation by electrical power
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to charge with or subject to electricity
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to startle or excite intensely; shock or thrill
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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electrificationnoun
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electrifiernoun
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nonelectrificationnoun
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reelectrificationnoun
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reelectrifyverb (used with object)
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electrifiableadjective
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nonelectrifiedadjective
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proelectrificationadjective
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unelectrifiedadjective
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unelectrifyingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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electrifysimple
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electrifiessimple
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have electrifiedperfect
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has electrifiedperfect
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am electrifyingprogressive
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are electrifyingprogressive
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is electrifyingprogressive
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have been electrifyingperfect progressive
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has been electrifyingperfect progressive
Past
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electrifiedsimple
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had electrifiedperfect
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was electrifyingprogressive
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were electrifyingprogressive
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had been electrifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of electrify
Explanation
Electrify means to make something electric — either literally or figuratively. You can electrify a house by wiring it so the occupants will have lights, or you can electrify a boring party by getting everyone laughing. A captivating person might electrify every room she enters. Maybe it’s her laugh, maybe it’s the way she talks with her hands, maybe it’s the zany scarves she wears. Something about her gets everyone going. In a related sense, electrify can also describe what the electrician does to a house — she wires it so that the lights, computers, and television can all be plugged in and operate properly.
Vocabulary lists containing electrify
"The Civil Rights Movement"
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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:
"It is possible that events in the future might electrify the public, and then positions - and talk - might not be so cheap," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Yet cargo freight has been hard to electrify because long-haul trucks need hundreds of miles of range while carrying heavy loads, and charging infrastructure has not been consistent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
“From an economic point of view, for every EU country, the best possible decision is get rid of fossil fuels, electrify, buy more heat pumps, buy more renewables,” Oliveira da Silva said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
Beta Technologies rallied 22% after Amazon.com disclosed a stake in the aerospace start-up, which is working to electrify aircrafts.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
But a skilled writer can enliven and sometimes electrify her prose with the judicious insertion of a surprising word.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Death hangs over the record and there are many references to the steady march of time, but for Ms. Orton the inevitability of the end electrifies the present.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Electrospinning is a technique which electrifies droplets of liquid to form fibres from plastics.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2024
The man himself, son of a sea captain, is an instinctive, charismatic politician who electrifies the campaign trail thanks to a natural bond with admiring masses across Anatolia.
From Reuters ● May 12, 2023
Japanese British pop dynamo Rina Sawayama electrifies the crowd at Elton’s party with her artful mash-up of rock, electro-pop, nu-metal and even some country pop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2023
The honesty electrifies Helmuth, the way the British announce their own losses to the Germans.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
But he’s also really electrified some younger voters.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
He said the charity was in the process of moving to a fully electrified fleet, but he said rising fuel costs directly affected the families it supported.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Utilities have known for decades that unused lines can become energized from nearby electrified equipment through the induction process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Morishita recalls having been electrified by a performance she had seen by Mikiko Matsuyama, who founded the company in 1948.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Tonight we’ll position the crates on the other side of the electrified gateway, then tomorrow we’ll release these bonobos to join the wild ones.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
In a statement, Creamfields described the band as "one of the most influential and electrifying electronic acts of all time".
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Charli XCX has ushered in her next era with an electrifying headline set at Reading Festival which showcased hits from across her music career.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Koos van der Steuijt, 66, of Lisse, Netherlands, began visiting Green Safaris’s game lodges just as the company started electrifying its fleet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The past few months have been the most electrifying time for math since the invention of the calculator.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
If electrifying the water failed, did he mean to send the lightning bolt’s energy into the force field?
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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