as in frightening
causing fear
heard a terrifying noise coming from the next room
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in scaring
to strike with fear
the prospect of speaking in front of a huge crowd of people absolutely terrifies me
Synonyms & Similar Words
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 terrifying
Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 6 Nov. 2025
One night, Bruce drives back to his childhood home, now abandoned, sits in his car, and and remembers growing up there with a distant, terrifying father and a mother who did her best to protect her young son.
—Henry Selick, IndieWire, 6 Nov. 2025
Travis Bean, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
For the rest of the country, local governments would be better off slashing the personal income tax rates that are terrifying voters into fleeing for red state residences.
—Tiana Lowe Doescher, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for terrifying
Adjective
And after the stranger finally emerges, Judith’s life becomes entangled with his own in a terrifying way.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 6 Nov. 2025
One night, Bruce drives back to his childhood home, now abandoned, sits in his car, and and remembers growing up there with a distant, terrifying father and a mother who did her best to protect her young son.
—Henry Selick, IndieWire, 6 Nov. 2025
Verb
The tonal whiplash you experience at that point, the sense that Barbarian can be genuinely terrifying one moment and weirdly funny the next, is what transformed the film into a cult hit.
—Travis Bean, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
For the rest of the country, local governments would be better off slashing the personal income tax rates that are terrifying voters into fleeing for red state residences.
—Tiana Lowe Doescher, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for terrifying
Recent Examples of Synonyms for terrifying
Adjective
-
Because to accept Douglas Kelley's conclusions that the capacity for the most unspeakable atrocity is latent in our own reality is shockingly quotidian and perhaps too frightening to hear; a responsibility too terrible to accept and yet too prescient to ignore.—
NPR,
NPR,
11 Nov. 2025
-
The 3-point shooting won’t hold, but even being around the top 10 in accuracy would make this scary Rockets squad even more frightening.—
Zach Harper,
New York Times,
10 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
More to the point, here are two industries still suffering the effects of high inflation, and two areas where that’s scaring customers away.—
Kelly Evans,
CNBC,
31 Oct. 2025
-
Like, scaring kids is important.—
Kayla Grant,
PEOPLE,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Fascinating albeit kinda scary to watch though.—
Megan Cartwright,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
-
Kim also recalled her mother allegedly threatening her father’s life, and on one scary occasion, Betty drove her car into the new home Dan shared with their children.—
Alex Gurley,
PEOPLE,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
In a follow-up video, the owner revealed a gentle method for waking the puppy without startling her.—
Maria Morava,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
As the day wears on, the crowd swells to a formidable throng.—
Rhea Mogul,
CNN Money,
9 Nov. 2025
-
If host Point Loma was going to stay unbeaten and advance to the Division 1 quarterfinal with a win over Mater Dei Catholic on Friday night, Pointers head coach Ryan Price was sure his formidable defense would have a major hand in it.—
Kevin J. Farmer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
The New York native collected Golden Globe and Spirit awards for her performance as the title character, an aging Czechoslovakian actress forced to take a stand-in job in a horrible off-Broadway play, in Anna.—
Mike Barnes,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Nov. 2025
-
Gano opening up about this comes on a horrible day for the football world after Dallas Cowboys second-year linebacker Marshawn Kneeland died by suicide at the age of 24.—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
The groundbreaking research penetrated the last moments of the young nobleman, who suffered a terrible 26 blows.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Nov. 2025
-
History is full of cases where great bands make terrible records, yet history stands speechless at what the Clash accomplished here.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
9 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
The Kingpin is one of its offerings this year, an intimidating V-8 monster that makes over 800 horsepower and is blacked out.—
Erik Shilling,
Robb Report,
5 Nov. 2025
-
The podcast is meant to do some of the bedtime planning for parents, taking an intimidating task off their plate.—
Elisabeth Sherman,
Parents,
29 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Terrifying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/terrifying. Accessed 17 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share