terrified

1. 1
   adjective

   Filled with extreme fear; intensely frightened.

   Like the frozen panic of seeing headlights rushing straight toward you.

   He stood terrified at the cliff edge, unable to take another step.

   The sudden blast left everyone in the lobby terrified and disoriented.

   Similarpetrified, frightened, scared, horrified, afraid

   Oppositecalm, unafraid, fearless

   Note

   An adjective that grades with more and most rather than -er and -est: more terrified, most terrified. Its natural partner is of, which names what the fear is fixed on, as in terrified of spiders. A noun or an -ing form can follow the preposition, so a speaker can be terrified of heights or terrified of flying.

   Remi has always been terrified of spiders.

   She was more terrified of the interview than of the exam itself.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of terrify.

   The sudden storm terrified the sailors as waves crashed over the deck.

   The villagers had terrified the intruder into fleeing the valley.

   Note

   Here the fear has a cause that acts: the storm terrified the sailors. With have it forms the perfect, and with be the passive, where it shades into the adjective of fear. Terrified by the blast reports something that happened, while terrified of spiders describes a state. The verb can also mean intimidated, as in terrified into fleeing, and an obsolete use meant 'made terrible'.

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