PETRIFY

petrify

(verb) cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned from fright; ā€œThe horror petrified his feelingsā€; ā€œFear petrified her thinkingā€

rigidify, ossify, petrify

(verb) make rigid and set into a conventional pattern; ā€œrigidify the training scheduleā€; ā€œossified teaching methodsā€; ā€œslogans petrify our thinkingā€

lapidify, petrify

(verb) change into stone; ā€œthe wood petrified with timeā€

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

petrify (third-person singular simple present petrifies, present participle petrifying, simple past and past participle petrified)

To harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.

To produce rigidity akin to stone.

To immobilize with fright.

(intransitive) To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.

(intransitive, figurative) To become stony, callous, or obdurate.

(transitive, figurative) To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrification.

Synonyms

• See also frighten

Source: Wiktionary


Pet"ri*fy, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Petrified; p. pr. & vb. n. Petrifying.] Etym: [L. petra rock, Gr. -fy: cf. F. pƩtrifier. Cf. Parrot, Petrel, Pier.]

1. To convert, as any animal or vegetable matter, into stone or stony substance. A river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves. Kirwan.

2. To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrifaction; as, to petrify the heart. Young. "Petrifying accuracy." Sir W. Scott. And petrify a genius to a dunce. Pope. The poor, petrified journeyman, quite unconscious of what he was doing. De Quincey. A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition. G. Eliot.

Pet"ri*fy, v. i.

1. To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.

2. Fig.: To become stony, callous, or obdurate. Like Niobe we marble grow, And petrify with grief. Dryden.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

27 June 2025

SQUARE

(adjective) having four equal sides and four right angles or forming a right angle; ā€œa square peg in a round holeā€; ā€œa square cornerā€


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Coffee Trivia

The expression ā€œcoffee breakā€ was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.

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