Library / English Dictionary

TERRIFY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: terrified   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fill with terror; frighten greatly

Synonyms:

terrify; terrorise; terrorize

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "terrify" is one way to...):

affright; fright; frighten; scare (cause fear in)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "terrify"):

panic (cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will terrify him

Derivation:

terror (an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I looked around terrified.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Billee, terrified into bravery, sprang through the savage circle and fled away over the ice.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The terrified general pronounced the name of Allen with an inquiring look; and here too Thorpe had learnt his error.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers—their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool!

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

She had suffered very much from cramp after dancing, and her first attempt to mount the bank brought on such a return of it as made her absolutely powerless—and in this state, and exceedingly terrified, she had been obliged to remain.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I moved from hiding-place to hiding-place, always pursued, or so it seemed to me, by these terrifying missiles.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The king was terrified; he threw himself on the soldier’s mercy, and merely to be allowed to live at all, gave him his kingdom for his own, and his daughter to wife.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“Trot! My dear Trot!” cried my aunt, in a terrified whisper, and pressing my arm.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Not only was his body that of a giant but everything about him was grotesque, gigantic, and terrifying.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The poor dear was evidently terrified at something—very greatly terrified; I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to support him he would have sunk down.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)