Definition

1. Transitive Verb:
   • To fill with overwhelming fear; to cause intense terror or dread in someone.
   • To coerce, control, or subjugate through the use of violence, threats, or intimidation.

Usage

The verb "terrorize" describes the act of making someone feel extreme fear or of using fear as a weapon to force compliance. It often implies repeated or systematic actions intended to create a state of ongoing terror. It is used with a direct object (the person or group being terrorized).

Examples

• The criminal gang would terrorize the neighborhood with nightly threats and acts of vandalism.
• The dictator's secret police were known to terrorize political dissidents.
• The thought of the upcoming exam terrorized the unprepared student.
• You shouldn't let your nightmares terrorize you; they are not real.

Advanced Usage

• "to terrorize someone into doing something": This structure emphasizes the purpose of the intimidation, which is to force a specific action.
  • The mobsters terrorized the shopkeeper into paying them "protection" money.

Variants and Related Words

• Terror (n): Extreme fear; a person or thing that causes such fear.
• Terrorism (n): The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
• Terrorist (n/adj): A person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation; relating to such actions.

Synonyms

• Frighten: To make afraid. (Less intense and systematic than "terrorize").
• Terrify: To cause to feel extreme fear. (Very close in meaning, often interchangeable).
• Intimidate: To frighten or threaten someone, usually to make them do something.
• Coerce: To persuade someone to do something by using force or threats.

Phrasal Verbs

(The word "terrorize" does not commonly form standard phrasal verbs.)

Related Idioms

(There are no common idioms directly built around the verb "terrorize.")

Verb

1. fill with terror; frighten greatly
2. coerce by violence or with threats