Terrify

Definition: Terrify

Terrify

Verb

1. Fill with terror; frighten greatly.

Date "terrify" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1415. (references)

Note: Terrify \Ter"ri*fy\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Terrified; present participle verb or noun Terrifying.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Terrify

Synonyms: terrorise (v), terrorize (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Fear	Inspire fear, excite fear, inspire awe, excite awe; raise aprehensions; be in a daze, bulldoze; faze, feeze; give an alarm, raise an alarm, sound an alarm; alarm, startle, scare, cry " wolf," disquiet, dismay; fright, frighten, terrify; astound; fright from one's propriety; fright out of one's senses, fright out of one's wits, fright out of one's seven senses; awe; strike all of a heap, strike an awe into, strike terror; harrow up the soul, appall, unman, petrify, horrify; pile on the agony.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Terrify

English words defined with "terrify": Agrise, Awhape ♦ Gallow, Gast ♦ To scare up. (references)

Specialty definitions using "terrify": Babau ♦ Narses ♦ RAWHEAD AND BLOODY BONES. (references)

Etymologies containing "terrify": Bogle. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Yeah, and the minute after that, I can terrify him with my alarming strength and remarkable self-involvement. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Horace	Whom does false honour delight, or lying calumny terrify, except the vicious and sickly-minded?
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	It will perhaps be demanded, with death? I answer, each transgression may be punished to that degree, and with so much severity, as will suffice to make it an ill bargain to the offender, give him cause to repent, and terrify others from doing the like. (Second Treatise of Government)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Terrify" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 70.49% of the time. "Terrify" is used about 61 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	70.49%	43	52,181
Lexical Verb (base form)	29.51%	18	82,615
Total	100.00%	61	N/A

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "terrify"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		tmerroj (appal, appall, daunt, horrify, terrorize), llahtaris (dismay, scare), lemeris (dismay, horrify), lebetit (dismay), i fut tmerrin. (various references)

Arabic		‏جنن (drive mad, drive up the wall), ‏أرهب (alarm, browbeat, buffalo, bulldoze, bully, daunt, dread, horrify, overawe, shoot up, terrorize), ‏روع (appal, appall, awe, cow, daunt, put the wind up, scare, spook, stare, terrorize). (various references)

Bulgarian		ужасявам (appal, appall, horrify, shock), плаша (affright, frighten, intimidate, scare). (various references)

Chinese		驚嚇 (horrify), 害怕 (Afraid, terrified, terrifying). (various references)

Czech		vylekat (alarm, unnerve), vydìsit (dismay, frighten away, scare), postrašit (frighten, startle). (various references)

Danish		forskrække (alarm, frighten). (various references)

Dutch		schrik aanjagen (frighten), doen schrikken (frighten). (various references)

Esperanto		teruri (frighten). (various references)

Farsi		وحشت زده کردن (Horrify, Panic). (various references)

Finnish		pelottaa (deter, fill with awe, frighten, inspire with fear, intimidate, scare, startle), kauhistuttaa, hirvittää. (various references)

French		terroriser (terrorize), terrifier, rendre fou, épouvanter (fill with terror). (various references)

Frisian		bang meitsje (frighten). (various references)

German		erschrecken (affright, appal, be frightened, be startled, dismay, fright, frighten, give a shock, give a start, horrify, make jump, scare, start, startle, startle reaction, startling effect, to frighten, to horrify, to scare). (various references)

Greek		φοβίζω (affright, astound, awe, browbeat, cow, frighten, scare), τρομάζω (alarm, appal, cow, daunt, dismay, frighten, funk, horrify, intimidate, petrify, scare, startle). (various references)

Hebrew		לערוץ (frighten, intimidate), ל�"פיל אימ�", ל�"פחי�" (browbeat, bully, cow, daunt, dismay, frighten, put the wind up, scare), ל�"בעית (horrify). (various references)

Hungarian		megrémít (aghast, alarm, appall, dismay, horrify, scare, to alarm, to appal, to appall, to dismay, to fright, to shock), megijeszt (affright, aghast, daunt, frighten, give one the creeps, intimidate, scare, sit up, startle, to afear, to alarm, to cow, to daunt, to dismay, to fright, to frighten, to haze, to spook, to terrify). (various references)

Indonesian		mendahsyatkan, menakutkan (alarm, awful, chiller, daunt, dreadful, ercy, ghastly, horrible, horrify), memperdahsyatkan. (various references)

Italian		terrorizzare (petrify, terrorize), terrificare, atterrire (appal, appall, be terrified, dare, frighten, horrify, scare). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		震駭させる (to frighten, to shock, to terrify). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		し�"がいさせる (to frighten, to shock, to terrify). (various references)

Korean		놀래십시�". (various references)

Manx		agglaghey (appall, scare). (various references)

Pig Latin		errifytay

Portuguese		aterrorizar (awe, frighten, funk, terrorize). (various references)

Romanian		speria (affright, alarm, cow, deter, discourage, frighten, funk, horrify, scare, shake, shy, start), înspãimânta (dismay, frighten, gorgonize, horrify, scare), îngrozi (appal, awe, dismay, frighten, horrify, shudder), înfricoşa (awe, daunt, deter, discourage, fray, frighten, horrify, scare). (various references)

Russian		ужасать (apall, apalled, appal, appall, appalled, horrify). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		užasavati se, prestraviti. (various references)

Spanish		aterrar (appal, appall, astonish, astound, demolish, terrorize, terrorizes). (various references)

Swedish		förskräcka (appal, appall, dismay, frighten), förfära (appal, horrify, horrily). (various references)

Turkish		dehşete düşürmek (appal, appall, curdle one's blood, dismay, frighten, funk, horrify, shock, terrorize), ödünü patlatmak (frighten, frighten smb. to death), çok korkutmak. (various references)

Ukranian		роздратовувати (acerbate, anger, discontent, dislike, embitter, exacerbate, fash, fret, frump, goad, huff, irk, needle, nettle, nip, peeve, rile, wear on), залякувати (ballyrag, bludgeon, bluff off, brag, browbeat, bull-dose, bully, cow, daunt, terrorize), жахати (consternate, dismay). (various references)

Welsh		brawychu (affright, appall, frighten). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	consternabatur, consternata, consternatae, consternatique, consternatus, perterrita, perterriti, perterritum, perterritus, perterruit, perterruitque, terreamini, terreat, terrebant, terreberis, terrebis, terrebit, terrebunt, terreo, terrere, terrerent, terreret, terribiliter, terrificare, territi, territo, territus, terruerunt, terruit. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	2 Corinthians Chapter 10, Verse 9
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	Ina mh doxw wV an ekfobein umaV dia twn epistolwn
Latin	405	Vulgate	Ut autem non existimer tamquam terrere vos per epistulas
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	But that Y be not gessid as to fere you bi epistlis,
Renaissance English	1526	Tyndale	This saye I lest I shuld seme as though I went about to make you a frayde with letters.
Jacobean English	1611	King James	That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.
Victorian English	1833	Webster	That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.
Basic English	1964	Ogden	That I may not seem to have the desire of causing you fear by my letters.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	2 Corinthians Chapter 10, Verse 9
Bulgarian	А който се хвали, с �"оспода да се хвали.
Cebuano	Dili ako buot nga makita nga daw naglisang kaninyo pinaagi sa akong mga sulat.
Chinese	我說這話免得 � 們以為我寫信是要威嚇 � 們。
Croatian	Samo da se ne bi èinilo kao da vas zastrašujem poslanicama!
Danish	for at jeg ikke skal synes at ville skræmme eder ved mine Breve;
Dutch	Opdat ik niet zou schijnen, alsof ik u door de brieven wilde verschrikken.
Finnish	Tämän minä sanon, ettei näyttäisi siltä, kuin peloittelisin teitä kirjeilläni.
French	afin que je ne paraisse pas vouloir vous intimider par mes lettres.
German	Das sage ich aber, daß ihr nicht euch dünken lasset, als hätte ich euch wollen schrecken mit Briefen.
Haitian Creole	Mwen pa ta vle nou konprann m'ap chache kraponnen nou lè m'ap ekri nou konsa.
Hungarian	Hogy ne láttassam, mintha csak ijesztgetnélek a leveleim által.
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Saya tidak mau kalian merasa bahwa saya menakut-nakuti kalian dengan surat-surat saya.
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	supaya jangan kelihatan seolah-olah aku hendak mengugut kamu dengan surat-surat kiriman itu.
Italian	Non sembri che io vi voglia spaventare con le lettere!
Korean	이 �" 내 가 편 지 �"� 로 너 희 를 놀 라 게 하 � � �" 것 같 이 생 각 지 않 게 함 이 니
Latvian	Bet nedomâjiet, ka es ar vçstulçm gribçtu jûs iebaidît!
Maori	Kia kaua ahau e meatia e whakawehi ana i a koutou ki aku pukapuka.
Modern Greek	δια να μη φανω οτι θελω να σας εκφοβιζω δια των επιστολων.
Norwegian	forat jeg ikke skal synes likesom å ville skremme eder med mine brev.
Portuguese	para que eu não pareça como se quisera intimidar-vos por cartas.
Rumanian	Zic awa, ca sq nu se parq cq vreau sq vq knfricowez prin epistolele mele.
Shuar	"Ni aarmarijiai awaktamkatajtsa wakerutmaji" Tátsurpash. Núchaiti.
Spanish	para que no parezca que quiero atemorizaros por cartas.
Swahili	Sipendi mfikiri kwamba nataka kuwatisha ninyi kwa barua zangu.
Swedish	Jag vill icke att det skall se ut, som om jag med mina brev allenast tänkte skrämma eder.
Thai	เพื่อท่านทั้งหลายจะไม่คิ�"เห็นว่า ข้าพเจ้าอยากให้ท่านกลัวเพราะจ�"หมายของข้าพเจ้า
Ukrainian	Та щоб не здавалось, ніби хочу лякати вас листами.
Uma	Jadi', popea-mi-hana karata-ku mpai', bona neo' mpai' ria to mpo'uli' me'ekahi-a-wadi hante sura-ku to karapo'.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "terrify": terrifying, terrifyingly. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Terrify" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: errif, tarrif, tererity, terif, terify, terir, terrif, terrifc, terrife, terrifier. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "terrify" (pronounced te"rufī')
5	-e" r u f ī'	clarify, verify.
4	-r u f ī'	electrify, gentrify, glorify, horrify, petrify, purify.
3	-u f ī'	acidify, amplify, beautify, calcify, certify, classify, codify, crucify, decertify, declassify, deify, demystify, detoxify, dignify, disqualify, diversify, edify, exemplify, falsify, fortify, gratify, identify, indemnify, intensify, justify, liquefy, magnify, misidentify, modify, mollify, mortify, mummify, mystify, notify, nullify, ossify, oversimplify, pacify, personify, qualify, quantify, ramify, ratify, reclassify, rectify, requalify, reunify, signify, simplify, solidify, specify, stratify, stultify, testify, typify, unify, vilify.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-f-i-r-r-t-y"
	-1 letter: ferity.
	-2 letters: eyrir, ferry, fiery, firer, firry, frier, fryer, refit, refry, reify, retry, rifer, terry, trier.
	-3 letters: fire, fret, frit, reft, reif, rife, rift, rite, tier, tire, tref, trey, tyer, tyre, yeti, yirr.
	-4 letters: eft, err, fer, fet, fey, fie, fir, fit, fry, ire, ref, rei, ret, rif, rye, tie, try, tye, yet.
	-5 letters: ef, er, et, if, it, re, ti, ye.
	Words containing the letters "e-f-i-r-r-t-y"
	+2 letters: recertify, refortify.
	+3 letters: fraternity, precertify, terrifying, torrefying.
	+4 letters: fluorimetry, inferiority, irrefutably.
	+5 letters: recertifying, reflationary, refortifying, refractively, refractivity, refractorily, terrifically, terrifyingly.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.