- having been numbed or paralyzed with astonishment, horror, or other strong emotion:The victim arrived at the shelter petrified and penniless, lacking the documents needed to apply for aid.
- having been turned to stone or a stony substance:Among the fossils found here are petrified skeletons of dinosaurs dating back 65 million years.
- having been made rigid or inert; hardened: The 20-year-old snack cake—still in its original packaging—is quite petrified; it makes a pleasant thunking sound when I knock it against the desk.
- the simple past tense and past participle of petrify.
