Meanings
- ironicAn expression of amazement at something controversial.
The identity of the secretive street artist has been outed by a Sunday newspaper and, shock horror, he's middle class.
2008 July 14, Francesca Gavin, The Guardian1 more example
The bulk of Castro's Secrets argues […] that Castro was aware that Lee Harvey Oswald was going to try to kill Kennedy in Dallas and (shock horror) did not warn the US authorities, ‘the most despicable decision during his nearly five decades in power’.
2012, Hugh Bicheno, “Spies of the Caribbean”, in Literary Review, section 401
Cite this entry
shock horror. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shock%20horror
“shock horror.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shock%20horror. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shock horror,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shock%20horror.
Source: shock horror on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.