PETRIFIED Synonyms: 82 Similar and Opposite Words

petrified

verb

Definition of petrified

past tense of petrify

as in exhausted

to deprive of emotional or intellectual vitality groupthink and peer pressure have so petrified the thinking of the company's top brass that they haven't produced an innovative product in years

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of petrified The first film follows a group of French high-school students who travel to Naples on a school trip to discover the ruins of Pompeii and the bodies petrified by Vesuvius. — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 20 May 2026 Johansson plays her with a tough edge to match her Queens accent, but Hester is clearly petrified by this perfect storm of ugly events. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2026 In group chats and meetings, Republicans are privately petrified the Iran war could cost them the midterms. — Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 16 Apr. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for petrified

Verb

Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to be depleted in 2032, with the combined retirement and disability trust funds exhausted by around 2033 or 2034.

— Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2026
The result was a landscape repeatedly cleared and exhausted for cotton and other cash crops.

— The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of exhausted

Verb

The scandals involving Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have undermined the reputation of the monarchy, and the King, still receiving cancer treatment, needs family support as never before.

— The Week UK, TheWeek, 28 Aug. 2026
This strategic move undermined the Nazis’ ability to use the monarchy to legitimize their occupation.

— Giorgia Olivieri, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of undermined

Verb

Two lawyers can work identical hours in the same organization and experience their jobs in fundamentally different ways — one drained by constant conflict, another by lack of autonomy, another by isolation.

— Malana VanTyler, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026
The song is a lesson about the importance of empathy drained of the feel-good reassurance that might let the listener off the hook.

— Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of drained

Verb

The people who genuinely benefit are those vomiting or experiencing diarrhoea badly enough to be dehydrated.

— Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 26 Aug. 2026
When you are dehydrated, your urine will also have a higher concentration of waste, which may lead to urinary tract infections.

— Stephanie Brown, Verywell Health, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of dehydrated

Verb

Strewn around the edges of the room are ceramic casts of the pocked fruit, brown and desiccated like a pile of skulls.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
Olive trees, desiccated from the Xylella fastidiosa bacterial epidemic, are consumed by fire and slump to the ground in a burnished black heap.

— Angelica Calabrese, Longreads, 7 July 2026

Definition of desiccated

Verb

Those expectations got castrated because of last season’s early struggles.

— Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 24 July 2026
Earlier this month, on Monday, June 8, Municipal Court Judge Louis Sancinito found Lowe guilty of possessing the deer without a permit, interfering with a conservation officer attempting to confiscate the animal, and having Rudy illegally castrated.

— Moná Thomas, PEOPLE, 15 June 2026

Definition of castrated

Browse Nearby Words

pet peeves

petrified

petrifies

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“Petrified.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/petrified. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of petrified

verb

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