scandalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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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
Every minute is charged with tension, and one senses that scenes were shaped with the intent to scandalize rather than enlighten.
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2023
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
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
A small smile engages his face as he recalls some long-ago provocation that today scandalizes no one.
From Time Magazine Archive
And it just scandalizes poor auntie; while Beppa says it's a sin to give so much thought to matters of the body.
From The Torrent Entre Naranjos by Goldberg, Isaac
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
There were people who just saw it as part of the war effort, and there were people who were really, really scandalized.
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 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
But many of my mother’s friends were scandalized that I had shown my face on TV.
From "Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World" by Malala Yousafzai
"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
A mosque attendant, appalled, caught the diggers in action and rumors began to fly, scandalizing members of the city’s various faiths.
From New York Times ● Oct. 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
But it is certainly true, that Quakers are more upon their guard, with respect to scandalizing others, than many other people.
From A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 1 by Clarkson, Thomas
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.
