Meaning & use
terrifying
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Producing great fear, so that a person feels frozen, shaken or desperate to escape.
Grammar: Can sit before a noun or after a linking verb: a terrifying noise, the noise was terrifying.
Patterns
- a terrifying experience
- terrifying for someone
- it is terrifying to do something
The thunder was so loud and close that it was terrifying for the younger children.
Driving on an icy mountain road at night was a terrifying experience.
It is terrifying to realize you have lost your child in a crowd.
adjectivecomparablefigurative
Used loosely for something that is alarming or worrying in its seriousness or size, even if it causes no physical fright.
Grammar: Often figurative, describing facts or trends: terrifying statistics.
Patterns
- a terrifying number of something
- terrifying to think
The speed at which the fire spread was terrifying to the residents.
A terrifying number of students admit they never read the instructions.
It is terrifying to think how little we know about the deep ocean.
Word forms
| comparative | more terrifying |
|---|---|
| superlative | most terrifying |
Common combinations
- absolutely terrifying
- Standing on the glass floor of the tower was absolutely terrifying.
- a terrifying ordeal
- The hikers described the night in the storm as a terrifying ordeal.
- terrifying prospect
- Speaking to a thousand people was a terrifying prospect for her.
- find something terrifying
- Many people find flying terrifying.
- terrifying silence
- A terrifying silence followed the crash.
- strangely terrifying
- The empty hospital corridor felt strangely terrifying.
Synonyms and how they differ
- frightening
- Frightening is the general, everyday word, while terrifying marks the extreme end where fear is overwhelming.
- horrifying
- Horrifying adds shock and disgust to the fear, so it suits cruelty or gore more than a simple threat.
- scary
- Scary is informal and often playful, so a scary film is fun but a terrifying one is genuinely distressing.
- petrifying
- Petrifying is even more physical, suggesting fear that leaves you unable to move.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: terrifying or terrified?
terrifying vs terrified
Terrified describes the person who feels the fear, while terrifying describes the thing that causes it: a terrified child, a terrifying storm.
Practice
The roller coaster was ____, and several riders were shaking when they got off.
Choose one answer.
We need an adjective describing the thing that causes fear, so terrifying fits. Terrified would describe the riders, not the roller coaster.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “terrifying”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.