scandalize

S1C3A1N1D2A1L1I1Z10E1
US/ˈskændəlaɪz/

verb

To cause great offense to (someone); to shock with something scandalous.

“Overhearing the lewd joke, the dowager gave a scandalized gasp.”

Scrabble 22

Meanings

scandalize1

verbscandalize (third-person singular simple present scandalizes, present participle scandalizing, simple past and past participle scandalized)

present singular third person scandalizes · participle present scandalizing · participle past scandalized · past scandalized · alternative UK scandalise

  1. transitiveTo cause great offense to (someone); to shock with something scandalous.

    Overhearing the lewd joke, the dowager gave a scandalized gasp.

    4 more examples

    Woe to thee who art often wandering abroad, and spendest thy time unprofitably, and scandalizest others.

    1881, Thomas à Kempis; T[homas] T[hellusson] Carter, reviser and editor, “The Valley of Lilies”, in Instructions for Religious, London: J. Masters and Co., […]; and J. Pott, […], New York, chapter XV (Of persevering with Constancy in the Order and Monastery which we have chosen), page 45

    Thou scandalizest me and irritatest my nature as much as it possibly can be irritated.

    1896, Ernest Rénan, translated by Eleanor Grant Vickery, Caliban: A Philosophical Drama Continuing “The Tempest” of William Shakespeare (Publications of The Shakespeare Society of New York; No. 9), New York, N.Y.: The Shakespeare Press; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., page 19

    When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.

    1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 62

    Kautsky put this forward as a general hypothesis and not something that was bound to occur, but Lenin was scandalized by the idea of capitalism without wars, a state of affairs in which revolutions too would be much less likely.

    1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 492
  2. archaictransitiveTo reproach.
  3. archaictransitiveTo disgrace.
  4. archaictransitiveTo libel; to create scandal about (someone or something).

scandalize2

verbscandalize (third-person singular simple present scandalizes, present participle scandalizing, simple past and past participle scandalized)

present singular third person scandalizes · participle present scandalizing · participle past scandalized · past scandalized · alternative UK scandalise

  1. nauticalTo reduce the area and efficiency of a sail by expedient means (e.g. slacking the peak and tricing up the tack) without properly reefing, thus slowing boat speed.

    The mainsail was "scandalised" - a nautical mode of describing a sail reefed at both ends[.]

    1887, Mrs. Dominic D. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 16

Synonyms & antonyms

verbstrike with disgust or revulsion

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

scandalize · verb

  1. Ancient Greekσκανδαλίζω
  2. Latinscandalizō
  3. Englishscandalize

From Latin scandalizō, from Ancient Greek σκανδαλίζω (skandalízō). By surface analysis, scandal + -ize.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan escandalitzar
  • escandalitzarto cause great offense
Finnish skandalisoida
  • skandalisoidato cause great offense
French scandaliser
  • scandaliserto cause great offense
Italian scandalizzare
  • scandalizzareto cause great offense
Portuguese escandalizar
  • escandalizarto cause great offense
Romanian scandaliza
  • scandalizato cause great offense
Spanish escandalizar
  • escandalizarto cause great offense
Swedish skandalisera
  • skandaliserato cause great offense
Cite this entry
APA

scandalize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scandalize

MLA

“scandalize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scandalize. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scandalize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scandalize.

Source: scandalize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.