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
Public Image Ltd., also known as PiL, did not scandalize polite society in Britain as the Sex Pistols had with their haute-guttersnipe fashion sense, obscenity-laced television tirades and unceasing potshots at the queen.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
Here’s a way to scandalize your guests at your holiday party: Serve them boxed wine.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2021
This particular terrible thing does not scandalize me.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2020
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
If Hauerwas' rough speech and pointed views are taken as scandalous within academic society, he believes that what really scandalizes the so-called wisdom of the world is the message of the cross.
From Time Magazine Archive
Ned scandalizes the neighbors every Sunday by continually playing.
From The Irrational Knot Being the Second Novel of His Nonage by Bernard Shaw
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
That moment was his public debut, and it scandalized the people who heard it.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026
From the point that his “Nude Descending a Staircase” scandalized the American art world in 1913, Duchamp’s influence on modernism was undeniable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 5, 2026
They can also feel like time capsules to other dimensions; his 12-year-old daughter was scandalized by how normative bullying was after she read “Blubber,” Blume’s 1974 novel about tween mean girls and body shaming.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
I was scandalized by the filth of men’s rooms, the rank smells and pig sounds, the grunting and huffing from the stalls.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
"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
There’s no record of whether Bart actually put on the robe and ascot, but he and Liberty hit it off immediately and had puppies together, scandalizing upper-crust pet society.
From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2021
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
I can't have my servants libelling and scandalizing me.
From Mrs. Thompson A Novel by W. B. (William Babington) Maxwell
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