petrify

verb pet·ri·fy \ ˈpe-trə-ˌfī \

Updated on: 24 Apr 2018

Definition of petrify

petrified; petrifying

1 : to convert (organic matter) into stone or a substance of stony hardness by the infiltration of water and the deposition of dissolved mineral matter

2 : to make rigid or inert like stone:

a : to make lifeless or inactive : deaden

slogans are apt to petrify a man's thinking
—Saturday Rev.

b : to confound with fear, amazement, or awe

a novel about an airline pilot that will petrify you
—Martin Levin

intransitive verb

: to become stone or of stony hardness or rigidity

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Examples of petrify in a Sentence

the processes that petrify wood
The dead tree petrified into stone.

Recent Examples of petrify from the Web

Elmer lived with her abusive partner from 1990 to 2000, petrified of leaving, in part because of his large stockpile of weapons.

— rebecca asoulin, The Christian Science Monitor, "#MeToo's next challenge: domestic gun violence," 19 Apr. 2018
Its dinosaur fossils, petrified remains, and early bird specimens number in the thousands.

— ginny mohler, Smithsonian, "Ten Chinese Museums Where You Can See a Dinosaur Fossil Up Close," 18 Apr. 2018
Scan the program for the Summer Olympics, and there’s very little that would petrify anyone’s mother.

— nancy armour, USA TODAY, "With sports like luge, skeleton and snowboarding, death never far at the Winter Olympics," 12 Feb. 2018
The clip, taken by a security camera in the hallway, was posted to Deerpark CBS's YouTube page and is currently petrifying the internet.

— kelsey stiegman, Seventeen, "This School Accidentally Caught a Ghost On Camera and the Footage Will Disturb You," 9 Oct. 2017
That concept comes to the horror GOP lawmakers and lobbyists cognizant not only of how difficult tax reform will be, but petrified of adding health care back into the mix.

— phil mattingly, CNN, "GOP takes stock after another health care failure," 26 Sep. 2017
This swing will petrify Republicans in Congress who, up to now, have largely stayed in line behind Trump.

— e.j. dionne jr., The Denver Post, "Is Trump throwing Bannon under the bus this time?," 12 Apr. 2017
Dean is petrified of heights, so naturally ABC stuck him on a blimp with Rachel for the day.

— aurelie corinthios, PEOPLE.com, "Rachel Lindsay Cracks Under 'Pressures' of Being First Black Bachelorette as Accusations of Racial Targeting Fly," 20 June 2017
Like many of her classmates, loud, unexpected sounds petrified her.

— the washington post, The Mercury News, "The shooting lasted 12 seconds, but these first-graders’ torment may last years," 9 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'petrify.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.