Link Centre Dictionary

petrify

pet·rify

US/ˈpɛ.tɹəˌfaɪ/ uncommon

verb

1.

cause to become stone-like or stiff or dazed and stunned

  • “The horror petrified his feelings”
  • “Fear petrified her thinking”
2.

change into stone

  • “the wood petrified with time”
Synonyms
3.

make rigid and set into a conventional pattern

  • “rigidify the training schedule”
  • “ossified teaching methods”
  • “slogans petrify our thinking”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle French pétrifier, from Medieval Latin petrificāre, from Latin petra (“rock”), from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock”) + -ficāre, from facere (“do, make”), equivalent to petro- + -ify.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.