to fill someone with extreme fear and dread, often through violent or threatening actions.
From French 'terroriser,' derived from Latin 'terror' meaning 'great fear,' the word gained heavy use during the French Revolution and has since described systematic use of fear as a weapon.
The word 'terrorized' has a specific meaning in history—it originally described the 'Reign of Terror' in the French Revolution where government itself used fear as a tool, which is pretty dark and different from just being scared.
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