scandalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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scandalizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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scandalized,
past participle, past
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scandalizing
present participle
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to shock or horrify by something considered immoral or improper.
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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
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scandalizesimple
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scandalizessimple
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have scandalizedperfect
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has scandalizedperfect
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am scandalizingprogressive
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are scandalizingprogressive
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is scandalizingprogressive
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have been scandalizingperfect progressive
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has been scandalizingperfect progressive
Past
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scandalizedsimple
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had scandalizedperfect
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was scandalizingprogressive
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were scandalizingprogressive
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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
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List 9
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Vocabulary from Readings 3, Unit 3
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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.
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
Their love story is the focus of “Bridgerton’s” first season, as narrated by Lady Whistledown, the anonymous author whose gossip columns scandalize 19th-century British high society.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 9, 2021
This particular terrible thing does not scandalize me.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2020
Her final chapter titled “Wild Child” is a panorama of bad deeds, as if to scandalize her children while also freeing them from fear of failure or harsh judgment.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2019
I think Jackson got it to scandalize me, since the red velvet cover was decidedly lurid, but it ended up being a very good story.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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
In his lecture courses at the university, he scandalizes such colleagues as dandruffy Hume Cronyn by suggesting that a sympathetic bedside manner is as important as the study of anatomy.
From Time Magazine Archive
They inform his father that he is suspected of embezzlement, and get him drunk, whereupon the old man scandalizes the company by a burst of uncomplimentary candor.
From Essays on Scandinavian Literature by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
The group quieted down like scandalized school children.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
But those who spoke to The Wall Street Journal weren’t scandalized by the show’s existence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
It became a hit at the same time as it scandalized the country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
This is how invisibility operates: Things that scandalized us four months ago fail to penetrate today.
From Slate ● May 21, 2025
"Just like Superman. Grandma was scandalized and demanded a divorce there and then. He got the water running, though."
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
It’s easy to adore the star in the mid-to-late 1950s when he’s young and svelte, scandalizing and delighting America with his wiggly hips, popularizing a new sound dubbed rock ‘n’ roll.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
Writing in 1873, Nietzsche’s insistence that humanity will only achieve cosmic significance if it transcends itself—if it evolves to something greater and grander—was both scandalizing and revolutionary.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2023
"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
One narrative was that Brooks was scandalizing the idea of “real” country music because he incorporated rock music into tracks like “Papa Loved Mama” and covered Aerosmith.
From Washington Post ● May 11, 2021
"I've come to ask you if you know how your pupils are scandalizing the neighborhood," he said abruptly.
From Concerning Belinda by Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd
Definitions 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.
