appalling
Americanadjective
adjective
-
causing extreme dismay, horror, or revulsion
-
very bad
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of appalling
Explanation
Something that is appalling is awful or horrible, causing dismay or disgust. It's definitely not appealing. Like so many things, people have different opinions on what is appalling. Most people find the idea of children living in poverty appalling. Just about everyone thinks a vicious "sport" like dog-fighting is appalling. If you're rich, paying a lot of taxes might be appalling. A football announcer might say that a sloppy play was appalling. Your parents might say the state of your room is appalling. This word can fit just about any situation that disgusts you.
Vocabulary lists containing appalling
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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Brave New World
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He said the idea was appalling — and not just to him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
The Armed Forces Commissioner, Polly Miller-Perkins, who is carrying out her first investigation in the role, has called the allegations "absolutely appalling".
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
He also said then that the "appalling atrocity of slavery" stains Britain's history.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
“The events that took place on our campus in 2024 were appalling then and remain so now,” the message said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Our Ford—or Our Freud, as, for some inscrutable reason, he chose to call himself whenever he spoke of psychological matters—Our Freud had been the first to reveal the appalling dangers of family life.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
