scandalize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
scandalizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scandalized,
past participle, past
-
scandalizing
present participle
-
to shock or horrify by something considered immoral or improper.
-
Nautical. to spill the wind from or reduce the exposed area of (a sail) in an unusual manner.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scandalizesimple
-
scandalizessimple
-
have scandalizedperfect
-
has scandalizedperfect
-
am scandalizingprogressive
-
are scandalizingprogressive
-
is scandalizingprogressive
-
have been scandalizingperfect progressive
-
has been scandalizingperfect progressive
Past
-
scandalizedsimple
-
had scandalizedperfect
-
was scandalizingprogressive
-
were scandalizingprogressive
-
had been scandalizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scandalize
1480–90; < Late Latin scandalizāre < Late Greek skandalízein. See scandal, -ize
Vocabulary lists containing scandalize
List 8
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
List 9
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Vocabulary from Readings 3, Unit 3
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
It is a risky undertaking—one that will probably scandalize the purists—but it is also a profoundly literary one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Now 64, he was initially passed off as her brother so as not to crack her “virginal feel and glow,” or to scandalize society, Cardinale’s daughter, Claudia Squitieri said.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2023
So when these powerful figures scandalize us, we lose our faith in our social world, or in our capacity to govern it.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2020
The question is no longer whether the latest revelation will scandalize Jim Bob sitting in a truck stop, but whether or not it's legally substantive evidence to be included in articles of impeachment.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2019
“You know I cain’t go, Hoyt. It would scandalize the town.”
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
An expression should never be banned for just being extremely offensive, regardless of whether it scandalizes a religious or any other type of cherished concept.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 19, 2022
Instead of treating them like the NFL’s beneficent owner-demigods, responsible for the league’s and players’ fortunes, college football instead ignores, scandalizes, and criminalizes any serious valuation of its athletes.
From Slate ● Dec. 1, 2020
Equally noteworthy are Georgia's "My Happy Family," a fine naturalistic examination of a 50-something woman whose desire to live alone scandalizes her patriarchal culture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2017
Next year she will do another movie for John Huston, an adaptation of a British novel called Miss Hargreaves, in which she plays a 70-year-old woman who scandalizes a cathedral town.
From Time Magazine Archive
He has views and ideas of his own, and acts occasionally upon his own initiative in a way that fairly scandalizes his advisers.
From Japanese Girls and Women Revised and Enlarged Edition by Alice Mabel Bacon
Back in 1988, after a D.C. journalist obtained and published a list of movies rented by Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, a scandalized Congress passed the Video Privacy Protection Act.
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2026
Vaughters spoke from experience: He’s a former member of Lance Armstrong’s scandalized U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
The group quieted down like scandalized school children.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
Although I haven’t been involved in AA in over a decade and openly write about my experience in the Program, I instinctively felt sort of scandalized by how blatant the personal “anonymity breaking” was.
From Slate ● Sep. 10, 2025
Thinking with my mouth again, I said, “Mama, how could Cold Sassy be any more scandalized than it is already?”
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
"Just don't talk about it" was a solution to something uncomfortable or something that other people would find scandalizing.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2022
Did you have any hesitation about stepping into the role of a hallowed figure, or sense any resistance from believers to the scandalizing aspects of the series?
From New York Times ● Jan. 3, 2020
He and Bosland said the charges were aiding and abetting breaches of the suppression order by international media, breaching the suppression order, scandalizing the court and sub judice contempt.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 28, 2019
The neat, versatile, circular crew neckline—with none of this sad baggage—is simply the less scandalizing option.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2018
"He'd be a very good mule," Sarella observed coolly, considerably scandalizing Mariquita.
From Mariquita A Novel by John Ayscough
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
