The phrase "petrified by" is a correct and usable phrase in written English
It is often used to describe someone who is extremely frightened by something. For example, "The spectators in the arena were petrified by the lion's roar."
I am petrified by Romney.
"This is the hockey stick I'm petrified by," he said.
He is petrified by rage at the indignities practiced on him.
She was alive, if unmoving, her body petrified by days in the cold.
"And when I say afraid, I mean absolutely petrified by him.
Meanwhile, the North enjoys a blackmailer's hold over China, which is petrified by its ally's possible implosion.
Scientists feared that the private effort would lead to the poaching of fossils and petrified remains by tourists.
It was a rare reminder of the terror that gripped the streets of South Boston during Mr. Bulger's reign in the 1970s and '80s — although this time the neighborhood found itself petrified not by the calculated nature of many of Mr. Bulger's alleged crimes, but by a fear of the apparent randomness of the violence.
At once petrified and enchanted by the thought of owning a ruined chateau, she offered half the asking price, sure to be rejected.
Not because they'll lose the Presidency by the same huge margin as those Democrats — they might well win — but because they've reached the same stage of petrified theology, capture by their extremes, and self-isolation from their old majority.
Such weapons, including a large shipment bought in Croatia at the end of last year, have gone through the rebels' military council in the southern province of Deraa, to be sent on to umbrella groups such as Liwa al-Islam.Jordan keeps as tight a control over its border as it can, because it is petrified of blowback by Islamist fighters who might threaten its own regime.
