scandalize means to cause great offense to (someone); to shock with something scandalous. It carries an Arena rating of 1524, earned across 37 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, scandalize ranks #1,689 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,828 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,331 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #2,864 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
scandalize is pronounced /ˈskændəlaɪz/.
Why “scandalize” is a great word
SCANDALIZE — [Verb] To shock or offend morally by an action considered disgraceful or improper. From Late Latin scandalizāre, from Late Greek skandalízein ("to cause to stumble, give offense"), from skándalon ("stumbling block, offense"). Entered English in the late 15th century via Old French scandaliser. Unlike "offend"—which broadly covers causing displeasure—or "disgrace," which names a state of dishonor, to scandalize is to lay a specific moral snare, causing others to stumble in their certainty. It is the rustle of a silk skirt that reveals an ankle, the unprintable phrase uttered in a cathedral hush, the frantic rustle of broadsheet pages reporting a secret liaison—each a minor tremor that measures not the depth of a sin, but the breathtaking fragility of the consensus it shatters.
Etymology
From Latin scandalizō, from Ancient Greek σκανδαλίζω (skandalízō). By surface analysis, scandal + -ize.
verb
- To cause great offense to (someone); to shock with something scandalous.e.g.“Overhearing the lewd joke, the dowager gave a scandalized gasp.”
- To reproach.
- To disgrace.
- To libel; to create scandal about (someone or something).
- To 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.e.g.“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:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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