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
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Recent Examples of petrified
The only issue is his mother Laura (Wright), a woman who has lost a child once before and is petrified of a repeat.
—
Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for petrified
Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for petrified
Recent Examples of Synonyms for petrified
Verb
-
This latest denial likely closes the door for Williams to open a dispensary at the Broadway location — having exhausted most administrative routes.—
Hannah Elsmore,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
9 Apr. 2026
-
In one panel, children maimed or exhausted by labor stare out bleakly; in another, unemployed men in a small industrial town sit or stand around.—
Judith Shulevitz,
The Atlantic,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Paternalistic tactics, such as overemphasizing IUDs and implants, undermined young people’s reproductive health preferences and goals.—
Riley J. Steiner,
STAT,
20 Apr. 2026
-
Schools would get credit for preparing students through different routes, while the state would avoid the unnecessary complexity that undermined the earlier indicator.—
Jessica Handy,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
His EcoFlow house battery eventually drained as well, bringing the vehicle to a complete 0% state of charge.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Apr. 2026
-
Kennard drained all five of his three-point attempts, including three in the fourth quarter.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
But one night, with my reserve weakened by cheap Sambuca shots, Tom and I ended up kissing.—
Rebecca Cope,
Vogue,
22 Apr. 2026
-
The correlation between stocks and bonds , which hasn’t been reliable in recent years, weakened meaningfully at the start of the Iran war, BlackRock said in its spring outlook Wednesday.—
Michelle Fox,
CNBC,
22 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
And if salt and water start to move, so, too, does the phlegm that has been sitting dehydrated in the lungs of CF patients.—
Courtney Crowder,
USA Today,
10 Apr. 2026
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Each bag filled with red lentils, long grain rice, dehydrated vegetables and a mix of vitamins contained enough for six meals.—
Elizabeth Marie Himchak,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Her flesh is desiccated and gray, her hands and feet are jagged claws, and her breath comes out in rasps.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
17 Apr. 2026
-
Mahdi and Khadija had been struck by drought, and their bed was dry and desiccated, waterless down to its depths.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
12 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
If the very successful 25-year-old Coward had been caught with a man, he could have been jailed or chemically castrated.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
20 Apr. 2026
-
After his conviction, Turing was chemically castrated.—
Michelle Del Rey,
USA Today,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The duchess wore the 14-karat gold version (a splurge at $1,100), but there are more accessible options that still feel special.—
Jeaneen Russell,
PEOPLE,
21 Apr. 2026
-
Lagomarsini, who wore gold earrings and has arm tattoos, got organized.—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Petrified.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/petrified. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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