PETRIFY (petrified)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: petrified   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does petrify mean? 

• PETRIFY (verb)
  The verb PETRIFY has 3 senses:

1. cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned from fright

2. change into stone

3. make rigid and set into a conventional pattern

  Familiarity information: PETRIFY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PETRIFY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they petrify    ... he / she / it petrifies   
Past simple: petrified   
Past participle: petrified   
-ing form: petrifying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned from fright

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

Fear petrified her thinking

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

blunt; deaden (make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Change into stone

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

lapidify; petrify

Context example:

the wood petrified with time

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

fossilise; fossilize (convert to a fossil)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

petrifaction (a rock created by petrifaction; an organic object infiltrated with mineral matter and preserved in its original form)

petrifaction; petrification (the process of turning some plant material into stone by infiltration with water carrying mineral particles without changing the original shape)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make rigid and set into a conventional pattern

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

ossify; petrify; rigidify

Context example:

slogans petrify our thinking

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

stiffen (make stiff or stiffer)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

At sight of the contents, he uttered one loud sob of such immense relief that I sat petrified.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Petrified with astonishment, the lad slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what would come of this strange affair.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The maid stood petrified for a moment, and then, recovering her courage, she ran downstairs.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“But surely,” said she, “I may enter his county with impunity, and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The cub was in a frenzy of terror, yet he lay without movement or sound, frozen, petrified into immobility, to all appearances dead.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Even the unexpected fall of the Duke of Durham into the orchestra, which occurred at this moment, could not distract the petrified attention of the vast audience.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have not been petrified.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Some were condensing air into a dry tangible substance, by extracting the nitre, and letting the aqueous or fluid particles percolate; others softening marble, for pillows and pin-cushions; others petrifying the hoofs of a living horse, to preserve them from foundering.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Miss Temple had looked down when he first began to speak to her; but she now gazed straight before her, and her face, naturally pale as marble, appeared to be assuming also the coldness and fixity of that material; especially her mouth, closed as if it would have required a sculptor's chisel to open it, and her brow settled gradually into petrified severity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Wild was the wrestle which should be paramount; but another feeling rose and triumphed: something hard and cynical: self-willed and resolute: it settled his passion and petrified his countenance: he went on—During the moment I was silent, Miss Eyre, I was arranging a point with my destiny.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)