terrorize

English

Alternative forms

• terrorise (non-Oxford British English)

Etymology

From terror +‎ -ize.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛɹəɹaɪz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

terrorize (third-person singular simple present terrorizes, present participle terrorizing, simple past and past participle terrorized) (transitive, American spelling, Oxford British English)

1. To fill (someone) with terror; to terrify.

   terrorize the population

   terrorize civilians

   The gang continued to terrorize the neighborhood.

   She felt terrorized by the constant threats.

2. To coerce (someone) by using threats or violence.

Synonyms

• (fill with terror): petrify, terrify
• (coerce by threats or violence): bully, hector

Derived terms

• counter-terrorize
• terrorization

Related terms

• terrorism
• terrorist

Translations

fill with terror

Albanian: please add this translation if you can Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: тэрарызава́ць impf or pf (teraryzavácʹ) Bulgarian: тероризирам (bg) (teroriziram) Catalan: terroritzar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: please add this translation if you can French: terroriser (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: terrorisieren (de) Greek: τρομοκρατώ (el) (tromokrató) Hungarian: terrorizál (hu), megfélemlít (hu) Italian: terrorizzare (it) Latin: terreō Latvian: terorizēt Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Polish: terroryzować (pl) impf, sterroryzować (pl) pf Romanian: please add this translation if you can Russian: терроризи́ровать (ru) impf or pf (terrorizírovatʹ) Slovak: please add this translation if you can Spanish: terrorizar, aterrorizar (es) Swedish: terrorisera (sv) Turkish: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: тероризува́ти impf or pf (teroryzuváty), стероризува́ти pf (steroryzuváty)

Further reading

• “terrorize”, in Oxford Learner's Dictionaries