Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb petrify

3 senses of petrify

Sense 1
petrify -- (cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned; "The horror petrified his feelings"; "Fear petrified her thinking")
       => deaden, blunt -- (make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation; "Terror blunted her feelings"; "deaden a sound")

Sense 2
lapidify, petrify -- (change into stone; "the wood petrified with time")
       => fossilize, fossilise -- (convert to a fossil; "The little animals fossilized and are now embedded in the limestone")

Sense 3
rigidify, ossify, petrify -- (make rigid and set into a conventional pattern; "rigidify the training schedule"; "ossified teaching methods"; "slogans petrify our thinking")
       => stiffen -- (make stiff or stiffer; "Stiffen the cream by adding gelatine")