as in to undermine
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 petrify
The former slingshots between harmony and hysteria; the latter petrifies its beauty under a haze of ashy gray powder.
—
Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 28 Nov. 2025
You'll be petrified by the violence inflicted upon boys who only wanted a chance to pull their families out of financial duress and have an opportunity at a comfortable life afforded to most of us sitting in our seats.
—Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 13 Sep. 2025
So don’t go around being petrified of having your esophagus rupture someday.
—Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 28 June 2025
Nearly every day brings a fresh breach of what were once thought to be the rules, moves that have thrilled his insurgent supporters and petrified his nervous opponents.
—Peter Baker, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for petrify
Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 28 Nov. 2025
You'll be petrified by the violence inflicted upon boys who only wanted a chance to pull their families out of financial duress and have an opportunity at a comfortable life afforded to most of us sitting in our seats.
—Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 13 Sep. 2025
So don’t go around being petrified of having your esophagus rupture someday.
—Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 28 June 2025
Nearly every day brings a fresh breach of what were once thought to be the rules, moves that have thrilled his insurgent supporters and petrified his nervous opponents.
—Peter Baker, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for petrify
Recent Examples of Synonyms for petrify
Verb
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Kirk had disappeared from their feeds, and Erika Kirk had gone viral for the wrong reasons—taking the stage at her husband’s memorial service amid pyrotechnics and attempting her own campus tour, undermining her image as a Christian trad wife whose priorities were her family and her home.—
Eliza Griswold,
New Yorker,
22 June 2026
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Over his 18-year tenure at the Fed, Greenspan embodied the omnipotent technocrat — a legacy critics say was fatally undermined by his failure to spot the 2008 housing bubble.—
Brendan Ruberry,
semafor.com,
22 June 2026
Verb
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Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images BEIJING — China’s consumer spending slowdown persisted in June, with growth during one of the country’s largest online shopping festivals weakening sharply from a year earlier.—
Evelyn Cheng,
CNBC,
23 June 2026
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All three of those protagonists have been weakened in their roles by what has gone on.—
Nasser Hussain,
New York Times,
23 June 2026
Verb
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The hotel’s wellness center offers Ayurvedic herbal scrubs, Reiki, hydrotherapy, lymphatic draining massages, colonics and acupuncture.—
Sandra Guzmán,
USA Today,
18 June 2026
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Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.—
Lynda Balslev,
Mercury News,
18 June 2026
Verb
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Another advantage of long and narrow leaves is their ability to withstand heavy rainfall and battering or desiccating winds.—
Joshua Siskin,
Oc Register,
4 June 2026
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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
Verb
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Her blood loss was reportedly so severe that the hospital exhausted its supply of her blood type during treatment.—
Samantha Stutsman,
PEOPLE,
18 June 2026
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Jones countered with more than $25 million from his own family fortune, fueling a contest that left both candidates bruised and voters exhausted.—
Greg Bluestein,
AJC.com,
17 June 2026
Verb
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As pests crawl through it, its jagged edges scrape their exoskeletons, dehydrating and killing them.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
18 June 2026
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Store in the fridge, dry, freeze, dehydrate, or keep in water to extend freshness.—
Heather Bien,
The Spruce,
15 June 2026
Verb
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The impact of that shocking final scene is sufficient to send viewers out feeling enervated after what’s been a pretty desultory final act.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
24 May 2026
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Campbell, the North Carolina folk singer, describes an enervating process marked by back-and-forth exchanges and lots of waiting.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
25 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Earlier this month, on Monday, June 8, Municipal Court Judge Louis Sancinito found Lowe guilty of possessing the deer without a permit, interfering with a conservation officer attempting to confiscate the animal, and having Rudy illegally castrated.—
Moná Thomas,
PEOPLE,
15 June 2026
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Seemingly to help stave off temptation, a half dozen of the 18 male cult members who died had been surgically castrated, according to The New York Times, including Applewhite.—
Savannah Walsh,
Vanity Fair,
8 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Petrify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/petrify. Accessed 24 Jun. 2026.
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