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zombify

American  
[zom-buh-fahy] / ˈzɒm bəˌfaɪ /

verb (used with object)

zombified, zombifying
  1. to turn (someone) into a zombie.


Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of zombify

First recorded in 1980–85

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:

The team sequenced the parasite’s genome some time ago and has pinpointed a handful of proteins that it may use to zombify its victims.

From New York Times Oct. 1, 2021

Everyone who studies the jewel wasp knows it stings the roach twice—once in the first thoracic ganglion to paralyze the front legs and once in the brain to zombify the roach.

From Scientific American Feb. 16, 2021

It became necessary to zombify the ant, to make it do a few things it wouldn’t ordinarily do.

From New York Times Oct. 24, 2019

Fungi that parasitize insects may also use neurotransmitter-mimicking chemicals to zombify their victims.

From Scientific American Oct. 20, 2018

It was George Romero's Night of the Living Dead in 1968 that set the modern movie template of a few intact survivors besieged by an undead throng eager to eat or zombify them.

From The Guardian Jun. 17, 2013

The 2022 campaign is now reporting just $6,290.60 cash on hand, which includes some leftover pocket change from another zombified campaign committee of Santos’ that dates back to his unsuccessful 2020 run.

From Slate Apr. 18, 2024

It then cuts to a shot of the person doused in the beverage — sometimes appearing dead, other times zombified — to flickering lights and eerie music.

From New York Times Jun. 29, 2023

Dr Charissa de Bekker, a microbiologist at Utrecht University, has studied how Cordyceps creates zombified ants and says she cannot see the same ever happening in people.

From BBC Jan. 27, 2023

Perhaps City can take solace in that Paris Saint-Germain and defending champion Chelsea were also zombified by whatever wizardry Madrid somehow conjures up at the biggest moments of the biggest games.

From Seattle Times May 5, 2022

With the right music Dad could escape his zombified abyss.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

Let’s hear it for well-targeted scorn: An iPad-like tablet with a zombifying effect on children is the villain of “Toy Story 5.”

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 18, 2026

"So-and-so's a fiend, zombifying everything that's got its eyes closed. Don't fall asleep around her!"

From Salon Mar. 19, 2023

The show takes place in the wreckage of a pandemic, when a mutant strain of the zombifying fungus makes the leap to humans.

From Scientific American Feb. 10, 2023

But only in recent years have researchers probed how these fungi go about zombifying ants.

From New York Times Oct. 24, 2019

The trailer teases the group's attempts to get to DC and — hopefully — deliver a cure for the zombifying infection.

From The Verge Jul. 25, 2014

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