terrify

terrify — verb

1. to cause someone to feel extreme fear or sudden terror, often leaving them unabl

1.動詞及物B1
釋義

to cause someone to feel extreme fear or sudden terror, often leaving them unable to think clearly or act normally.

例句

The sudden crash of thunder terrified the little girl, and she ran to her mother.

passive: terrified by [sudden event]

Bao was terrified by the idea of giving a speech to five hundred people.

terrified by + noun phrase / gerund

同義詞
  • frighten

    more general and less intense; the usual neutral alternative

  • scare

    more informal than terrify; can describe mild or sudden fear

  • petrify

    suggests fear so extreme that a person cannot move or speak

  • horrify

    combines fear with shock, disgust, or moral outrage

反義詞
  • reassure

    to make someone feel less worried or afraid

  • calm

    to make someone stop feeling afraid or anxious

文法句型

terrify + noun/pronoun

be terrified by/of + noun/gerund

terrify + object + into + gerund

用法筆記

Frequently used in the passive voice (be terrified by/of). The pattern 'terrify [someone] into [doing something]' describes coercion achieved through extreme fear — e.g., 'The armed men terrified the villagers into handing over their money.'

常見錯誤

❌The horror movie was very terrified.
✅The horror movie was very terrifying.
💡Use the -ing form (terrifying) for the thing that causes fear; the -ed form (terrified) describes the person who feels the fear.
❌The loud noise terrified me and I was scary.
✅The loud noise terrified me and I was scared.
💡'Scary' describes something that causes fear, not the feeling itself.