scandalize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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
- scandalization noun
- scandalizer noun
- unscandalized adjective
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.
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
These events scandalize, yet “The Girl With the Needle” is most intriguing when it lingers in its disturbing fictions, which come to life with exceptional style.
From New York Times • Dec. 5, 2024
Here’s a way to scandalize your guests at your holiday party: Serve them boxed wine.
From Washington Post • Dec. 8, 2021
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
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
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.
