terrorize

Etymology

It is formed from English terror + -ize.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The OED says that the intransitive sense follows tyrannize, and compares French terroriser, used intransitively from 1796 for establishing the regime of the Terror during the French Revolution, and, since 1866, for filling people with terror.^[2] Terror is from Anglo-Norman terrour and Middle French terreur, and also Latin terror (“great fear, dread”), from terreō (“to frighten”).^[2][8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To fill a person or nation with terror, especially to coerce or deter by threats or violence: 1812, in a translation of Montgaillard's Situation of Great Britain.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also dates the word to 1812,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1815–25 and Etymonline to 1823.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

Before terrorize, English used the noun itself as a verb, terror, to strike with terror, from the 1630s.^[4] The new verb soon took on the political sense of ruling or coercing by methods of terrorism, which Etymonline finds by 1856;^[4] an intransitive use, to practise intimidation or rule by threats, is recorded from 1835 in the American Railroad Journal.^[2] The Shorter Oxford includes using terrorism against people in its first sense.^[5]

Timeline

• 1812 – to fill with terror; especially to coerce or deter by threats or violence.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to 1823.^[4]
• 1835 – intransitive, to practise intimidation; to rule by threats or violence.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fill someone with terror; to frighten badly: The storm terrorized the people of the coast.^[9][3][2]
2. To control or coerce people by threats or violence: A gang had terrorized the shopkeepers into paying.^[9][3][2][5]
3. (intransitive) To spread fear; to rule by intimidation.^[3][2]

Word family

• terrorization
• terrorizer
• unterrorized

Related words

• terrorism
• terrorist
• terror
• terrify
• terrible

Usage notes

The spelling terrorise is also used, especially in British English.^[9][3][6][5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins