PETRIFYING
petrifying
(adjective) paralyzing with terror
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Adjective
petrifying
Causing immense fear; extremely scary
Synonyms: frightening, terrifying
Verb
petrifying
present participle of petrify
Source: Wiktionary
PETRIFY
Pet"ri*fy, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Petrified; p. pr. & vb. n.
Petrifying.] Etym: [L. petra rock, Gr. -fy: cf. F. pétrifier. 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