terrifyter‧ri‧fy /ˈterɪfaɪ/ ●●○ verb (past tense and past participle terrified, present participle terrifying, third person singular terrifies) [transitive] 
Word Origin Examples
Her husband’s violence terrified her.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINterrify
Verb TableOrigin:
1500-1600 Latin terrificare, from terrificus; ➔ TERRIFICVERB TABLE
terrify
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | terrify |
| he, she, it | terrifies | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | terrified |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have terrified |
| he, she, it | has terrified | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had terrified |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will terrify |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have terrified |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am terrifying |
| he, she, it | is terrifying | |
| you, we, they | are terrifying | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was terrifying |
| you, we, they | were terrifying | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been terrifying |
| he, she, it | has been terrifying | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been terrifying |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be terrifying |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been terrifying |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- It terrified him to think that, in six months time, he would have to stand up in front of a class and teach them something.
- My uncle suffers from agoraphobia, and the idea of leaving the house terrifies him.
- Speaking in public terrifies me.
- The idea of going down into the caves terrified her.
- The teacher terrified her so much, that she hated going to school.
- They hauled us into a huge corporate office in Capitol; 1, 000 people were there and it totally terrified me.
THESAURUS► frighten
Collocations to make someone feel afraid: · The thought of being in court frightened him.
► scare especially spoken to frighten someone. Scare is less formal than frighten, and is the usual word to use in everyday English: · He was driving fast just to scare us.· It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.
► terrify to make someone feel extremely frightened: · The idea of going down into the caves terrified her.· Robbers terrified bank staff by threatening them at gunpoint.
► give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened in a way that makes their heart beat more quickly: · It gave me a terrible fright when I found him unconscious on the floor.
► give somebody the creeps if a person or place gives you the creeps, they make you feel slightly frightened because they are strange: · This house gives me the creeps.
► startle to frighten someone. Used when you suddenly see someone and did not know they were there, or when you suddenly hear something: · I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.· The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.
► alarm to make someone feel frightened and worried that something bad might happen: · I didn’t want to alarm her by calling in the middle of the night.
► intimidate to deliberately frighten someone, especially so that they will do what you want: · Many of the gangs were using dogs to intimidate people.
Longman Language Activatorto make someone feel frightened► frighten · Does the thought of death frighten you?· Take that silly mask off -- you're frightening the children.it frightens somebody to know/think etc · It frightens me to know that the rapist still hasn't been caught.frighten the life out of somebody (=make someone feel very frightened) · What are you doing creeping up on me like that? You frightened the life out of me!frighten somebody out of their wits (=make someone feel very frightened) · Film-makers have always known that one way to capture an audience is to frighten it out of its wits. frighten the (living) daylights out of somebody (=make someone feel very frightened) · Melissa spun round to see Eddie standing behind her. "You frightened the daylights out of me!" she gasped. "I never heard you come in."frighten somebody into doing something (=make someone do something by frightening them) · Their lawyers tried to frighten us into signing the contract.frighten somebody off/frighten off somebody (=frighten someone so that they go away or stop trying to do something) · The man pulled out a gun and managed to frighten off his attackers.
► scare especially spoken to make someone feel frightened, especially by making them think something very unpleasant might happen: · He was driving fast just to scare us.· We're not really going to get arrested - I think the police are trying to scare us.it scares somebody to know/think etc: · It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.scare the hell out of somebody (=make someone feel very frightened) informal: · She scared the hell out of me when she said she had to go into hospital.scare the (living) daylights out of somebody (=make someone feel very frightened): · Don't creep up on me like that! You scared the living daylights out of me!
► terrify to make someone feel very frightened: · The idea of going down into the caves terrified her.· The teacher terrified her so much, that she hated going to school.· My uncle suffers from agoraphobia, and the idea of leaving the house terrifies him.it terrifies somebody to think/know etc: · It terrified him to think that, in six months' time, he would have to stand up in front of a class and teach them something.
► give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened so that they make a sudden movement or their heart starts beating quickly: · He really gave me a fright when he phoned at that time of night.give somebody a hell of a fright (=make someone suddenly very frightened) informal: · I accidentally touched a live wire in the motor, and even though it didn't hurt me it gave me a hell of a fright.
► alarm to make people feel very worried about a possible danger: · We don't wish to alarm people unnecessarily, but it would be wise to avoid drinking the tap water here.· Many women are alarmed by suggestions of a link between the contraceptive pill and breast cancer.
► startle if someone or something startles you, they frighten you because you see them suddenly or hear them when you did not know they were there: · I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you.· The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.· Any unexpected movements can startle the animal, so it must be approached slowly and steadily.
► make somebody jump to suddenly surprise and frighten someone so that they make a sudden movement: · Sorry! I didn't mean to make you jump.· Something darted out from behind the hedge, and made me jump.
► give somebody the creeps if a person or a place gives you the creeps , they make you feel slightly frightened and nervous because they are strange: · This house gives me the creeps - it's so dark and quiet.· I hate being left alone in the office with Graham - he gives me the creeps.
► make your hair stand on end informal if something such as a story or account makes your hair stand on end it makes you very frightened: · Wait until I tell you about the murder -- it'll make your hair stand on end.· I've heard rumours about how Captain Crayshaw disciplines his crew... things to make your hair stand on end.
► send shivers down your spine if a thought or experience sends shivers down your spine , it makes you feel very frightened especially because it involves someone or something that is very evil: · When you think of what happened in that house, it sends shivers down your spine.· Mere mention of his name is enough to send shivers down the spine of even the most battle-hardened fighter.
► make your blood run cold if a thought or experience makes your blood run cold , it shocks and frightens you because it is extremely cruel, violent, or dangerous: · The thought of ever returning to the prison makes his blood run cold. · The man stepped forward, and when Amelie saw him give a Nazi salute, it made her blood run cold.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES► a terrifying ordeal
to make someone extremely afraid: · Bruce Gordon has described his terrifying ordeal in a shark attack.
► terrifying prospect· Driving through London in a strange car was a terrifying prospect.
► a terrified scream (=by someone who is terrified)· I let out a terrified scream and scuttled down the stairs.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► more· And failure was more terrifying than sin.· Now the dream seems much more terrifying.· We learn that we're even more terrified of the wasps than we ever realized.· The unknown is always more terrifying than the known, no matter how unsatisfactory the present may be.· Not knowing the world that lies concealed behind those words is a more terrifying feeling.
► most· The jams are the most terrifying part of the Shuto.· It had been the most terrifying experience of his life.· But unlike microlights they can cope deftly with the most terrifying low-level turbulence.
► so· And she was so terrified she let him take me to - he said - the women's hospital.· The thought of dying had not been half so terrifying as the thought of living without them.· I was so terrified of losing him, for I sensed there would never be another love like this in my life.· Ram Rahim was still overloaded and by now so terrified that he shied at passing trucks.· Mr Stannard had so terrified him that he'd not looked behind first.· As an adult, he was so terrified of conducting his music that he feared his head would fall off.
► too· She said she was too terrified to visit her brother again.· I am too terrified to bear it, and I pass out.· A woman who spoke to detectives last year could have a vital clue, but be too terrified to telephone again.· For three days the people of Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town were too terrified to pick up the dead or buy food.
NOUN► child· She's terrified of children, she hates strangers and anything electrical - especially the washing machine, and the Hoover.· The thought of such a thing terrified the child.· She told Newsweek magazine that Mia, Allen's lover for 12 years, was hot-tempered and terrified her children.
► woman· Like many celibates, he was terrified of women and of their power to attract.· They then invented various spirit beings who would terrify the women and keep them away from the lodge and from knowledge.· I smiled back in a half-witted way that would have terrified a woman of less spirit.
VERB► seem· They seem so brittle they terrify me.· Now the dream seems much more terrifying.· However, sometimes, these seem less important than terrifying the public.· The children seemed terrified by the noise and by the visible proof of how close it had come.· Players on Cincinnati and Wisconsin-Green Bay seemed terrified at the prospect of allowing an easy shot.
Her husband’s violence terrified her.