APPALL (appalled, appalling)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: appalled    , appalling   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does appall mean? 

• APPALL (verb)
  The verb APPALL has 2 senses:

1. strike with disgust or revulsion

2. fill with apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised

  Familiarity information: APPALL used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• APPALL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they appall    ... he / she / it appalls   
Past simple: appalled   
Past participle: appalled   
-ing form: appalling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Strike with disgust or revulsion

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

appal; appall; offend; outrage; scandalise; scandalize; shock

Context example:

The scandalous behavior of this married woman shocked her friends

Hypernyms (to "appall" is one way to...):

churn up; disgust; nauseate; revolt; sicken (cause aversion in; offend the moral sense of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will appall him
The performance is likely to appall Sue

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fill with apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

alarm; appal; appall; dismay; horrify

Context example:

The news of the executions horrified us

Hypernyms (to "appall" is one way to...):

affright; fright; frighten; scare (cause fear in)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "appall"):

shock (strike with horror or terror)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

 Context examples 

There was no zest in the thought of departure, while the act of departure appalled him as a weariness of the flesh.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The bear edged away to one side, growling menacingly, himself appalled by this mysterious creature that appeared upright and unafraid.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I thought of Switzerland; it was far different from this desolate and appalling landscape.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Even when the lessons are done, the worst is yet to happen, in the shape of an appalling sum.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The enormousness of it appalled him.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

As I say, I was not afraid to meet my own death, there, a few hundred yards to leeward; but I was appalled at the thought that Maud must die.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I beg that you will bring me a little lavender water, landlord, for the smell of this crowd is appalling.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They were appalled by inaction and by the feel of something terrible impending.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The besiegers, appalled by their own riot and the stillness that had succeeded, stood back a little and peered in.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She longed to add, “But of his principles I have”; but her heart sunk under the appalling prospect of discussion, explanation, and probably non-conviction.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)