Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To fill with terror; make deeply afraid. See Synonyms at frighten.
- v. To menace or threaten; intimidate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make afraid; strike with fear; affect or fill with terror; frighten; alarm.
- To make terrible.
- Synonyms To scare, horrify, appal, daunt. See afraid.
Wiktionary
- v. To frighten greatly; to fill with terror.
- v. To menace or intimidate.
- v. obsolete To make terrible.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. obsolete To make terrible.
- v. To alarm or shock with fear; to frighten.
WordNet 3.0
- v. fill with terror; frighten greatly
Etymologies
- From Latin terrificare (Wiktionary)
- Latin terrificāre, from terrificus, terrific; see terrific. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It used the term "climate porn" to describe what it categorized as alarmist language on climate issues meant to "thrill" and "terrify" - but which failed to encourage meaningful action.”
“Charlie Cook recently wrote that Congress 'current poll numbers should "terrify" them, especially as they continue to lose support among the all-important independent voting bloc.”
“Condoleezza Rice urged Qurei to back down during their July 29 meeting in Washington, saying his statements "terrify" Livni.”
“The next day Clarke and Stewart came up with a plan, which Stewart later said was to meant to "terrify" their victim.”
“If he refuses to "terrify" the child by telling him the truth, does this mean he will tell the child a white lie? vii) BTW, isn't it overstated to suggest it's always abusive to scare children?”
“By the end of the twentieth century, those three letters would annually terrify not only new crops of U.S. high school students, but scores of thousands of nonnative users of English taking the examination in hundreds of countries and territories, all hoping to pursue higher education in the heartland of Global English.”
“The press is trying to terrify celebrities into not using Twitter.”
“Lancaster's first – and possibly last – Six Nations squad may not necessarily terrify the French, the Welsh, the Irish or the Scots but opponents would be correct to sense that the days of English complacency are over.”
The Guardian: Stuart Lancaster has reinvigorated England's Six Nations outlook
“I've been exercising a lot – running and doing Bikram yoga and all the things I've been avoiding in the past 10 years – because wearing 1940s bikinis on stage is enough to terrify anyone into submission.”
The Guardian: Samantha Womack: 'The grittier elements in South Pacific often get lost'
“Outside philosophy, the empty page is an image to terrify writers.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘terrify’.
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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i_am_scifi's Words
asshat, charlatan, podcast, geek, amazonian, parlez, defile, menagerie, perplex, gotham, metropolis, ghoul and 131 more...
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spillingvelvet's Words
capitulate, undulate, meretricious, lugubrious, fuck, treasure, delightful, yellow, taffeta, silver, terrify, anguish and 17 more...
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drabble 12/02
abacinate, anguish, terrify, silver, taffeta, yellow, delightful, treasure, fuck, lugubrious, meretricious, unctious and 2 more...
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