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Glite Dictionary
petrifying

petrifying

1 6.8
Causing so much fear that a person cannot move
  • adjective
  • /ˈpɛtrɪˌfaɪɪŋ/
translation icon : petrificante
  • Walking through the dark forest at night was a petrifying experience for him.

It's often petrifying enough to cause you to avoid completing projects or even having the confidence to start one in the first place.

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Examples

  • McCain will be termed out of his chair next year, so they're looking for a place to park his petrifying body.

    Blog text (25)

  • The understanding of the petrifying gravity of wealth and the freedom of asceticism.

    Academic text (1999)

  • It's often petrifying enough to cause you to avoid completing projects or even having the confidence to start one in the first place.

    Evan Carmichael

  • The idea of those killer bees coming back is petrifying.

    The Swarm (1978)

  • But here's the petrifying truth.

    Blog text (11)

  • I can imagine the subway game will be petrifying for newbies.

    Blog text (17)

  • Add petrifying props.

    Blog text (16)

  • The water comes and goes, neither liquid nor ice; stirring, dissolving, petrifying, and once again turning liquid on every fissure, only the better to undermine and eat away.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • But now, as Twain returned scarred and grieving to America, the locus of his humor had shifted to a place outside the limits of his own petrifying canon.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The horror movie was so intense that it became absolutely petrifying to watch.

Synonyms

scary
vspetrifying
763 1.0

Causing fear or making you feel afraid

is far more extreme, often causing a person to become motionless
frightening
vspetrifying
287 3.0

Causing someone to feel afraid

is a much stronger form that can physically freeze a person
terrifying
vspetrifying
209 5.3

Making people feel very afraid

causes equally strong fear that typically immobilizes the person
horrific
vspetrifying
179 5.5

Causing great fear or shock

shares strong disturbance but focuses on fear that stops action
horrifying
vspetrifying
95 4.5

Makes people feel very afraid and shocked

creates the same deep fear but with actual inability to move
paralyzing
vspetrifying
  • US
1 4.6

Making someone unable to move and act because of very cold weather or fear

causes the same freezing fear but with emphasis on being terrified stiff
chilling
vspetrifying
1 5.3

Making you feel very scared or worried

is far more intense, producing paralysing terror rather than unease
bloodcurdling
vspetrifying
  • Informal
1 8.2

Making you feel very afraid and shocked

produces similar horror but specifically freezes someone in place
shuddery
vspetrifying
1 8.5

That makes you shiver with fear

triggers deeper fear that often prevents any physical movement
scary to the bone
vspetrifying
  • Informal
8.5

Making someone feel very afraid

goes further by causing such fear that movement becomes impossible
shuddersome
vspetrifying
9.9

Causing strong fear or disgust that makes you shiver

moves beyond a shiver to cause total inability to act

How Scary

petrifying
1 6.8
terrifying
209 5.3
frightening
287 3.0
scary
763 1.0
unsettling
64 4.2

Surface Forms

petrifying positive

Morphology

petrifying = petrify (transparent) = petrify + ing

The adjective is a participial adjective formed from the verb 'petrify', so its meaning ('causing terror') is predictable from the verb plus '-ing'.

Etymology

Petrifying comes from an old root petro- that means 'stone' or 'rock', the same root behind the name Peter. So something petrifying is so scary it feels like you have been 'turned to stone' and cannot move.