Petrify

/ˈpɛ.tɹəˌfaɪ/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To turn to stone: to harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To turn to stone: to harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.
2. To produce rigidity akin to stone.
3. To immobilize with fright.
4. (intransitive) To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.
5. (intransitive, figurative) To become stony, callous, or obdurate.
6. (transitive, figurative) To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrification.

Example Sentences

a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves

Like Niobe we marble grow, / And petrify with grief.

Hopes, feelings, and passion, petrify one after another; the crust of experience soon hardens over the hidden past; and who, looking on the levelled and subdued exterior, could dream of the wreck and ravage that lies below?

petrify a genius to a dunce

A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition.

Synonyms for petrify

Antonyms for petrify

Related Words

Word Forms

• petrifies
• petrifying
• petrified

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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