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petrified

verb

Definition of petrifiednext
past tense of petrify
as in exhausted
to deprive of emotional or intellectual vitality groupthink and peer pressure have so petrified the thinking of the company's top brass that they haven't produced an innovative product in years

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of petrified The first film follows a group of French high-school students who travel to Naples on a school trip to discover the ruins of Pompeii and the bodies petrified by Vesuvius. — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 20 May 2026 Johansson plays her with a tough edge to match her Queens accent, but Hester is clearly petrified by this perfect storm of ugly events. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2026 In group chats and meetings, Republicans are privately petrified the Iran war could cost them the midterms. — Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 16 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for petrified
  1. exhausted
  2. undermined
  3. drained
  4. weakened
  5. dehydrated
  6. desiccated
  7. castrated
  8. wore
Verb
  • Once the appeals process is exhausted, the court's certification is sent to the State Department, along with court records.
    — Bill Chappell, NPR, 9 Sep. 2026
  • But their first-choice XI last season was good enough to take on most in the Premier League when fit and not be exhausted by a Conference League-winning campaign.
    — Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of exhausted
Verb
  • China’s domestic car market is under pressure from intense competition and price wars, while the slowing economy has undermined consumer confidence.
    — Chan Ho-Him, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Last week, OutKick explained how Magnus undermined his own edict and vision by hiring back Stan Verrett to host a throwaway show on NFL Network.
    — Bobby Burack OutKick, FOXNews.com, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of undermined
Verb
  • Using his antiseptic surgical technique, Joseph Lister successfully drained the pus.
    — Abe Baker-Butler, STAT, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Crowds were drained by unprecedented heat and fans (and conferences) were set off by clock disparities.
    — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of drained
Verb
  • Economic data for July showed retail sales and urban investment both weakened, adding to pressure on Beijing to step up support for the remainder of the year.
    — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2026
  • This view suggests that the sense of shame was collectively weakened by a series of self-interested actors who shattered the social firmament and opened up the gates to chaos.
    — Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of weakened
Verb
  • In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Rodríguez Verona said survivors were disoriented and dehydrated, with many collapsing or vomiting upon reaching land.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The people who genuinely benefit are those vomiting or experiencing diarrhoea badly enough to be dehydrated.
    — Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of dehydrated
Verb
  • Strewn around the edges of the room are ceramic casts of the pocked fruit, brown and desiccated like a pile of skulls.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Olive trees, desiccated from the Xylella fastidiosa bacterial epidemic, are consumed by fire and slump to the ground in a burnished black heap.
    — Angelica Calabrese, Longreads, 7 July 2026
Definition of desiccated
Verb
  • This is the league, remember, where a man (Harvey Updyke) confessed to poisoning the trees at Auburn on a radio show after Alabama lost to the Tigers, and a coach (Jackie Sherrill at Mississippi State) castrated a bull to motivate his squad.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Those expectations got castrated because of last season’s early struggles.
    — Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 24 July 2026
Definition of castrated
Verb
  • Last year for her debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry, Carpenter wore a dress Mackie originally designed for Ann-Margaret’s nightclub act in the 1970s.
    — Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Graham wore a black-and-white look paired with the summer’s most popular shoe style.
    — Karla Rodriguez, Footwear News, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of wore

Browse Nearby Words

pet peeves
petrified
petrifies
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Cite this Entry

“Petrified.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/petrified. Accessed 15 Sep. 2026.

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