| English Dictionary |
SHOCKING
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does shocking mean?
• SHOCKING (adjective)
The adjective SHOCKING has 2 senses:
1. glaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism
2. giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputation
Familiarity information: SHOCKING used as an adjective is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Glaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism
Synonyms:
lurid; shocking
Context example:
lurid details of the accident
Similar:
sensational (causing intense interest, curiosity, or emotion)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputation
Synonyms:
disgraceful; scandalous; shameful; shocking
Context example:
the most shocking book of its time
Similar:
immoral (deliberately violating accepted principles of right and wrong)
Context examples
There is something so shocking in a child's being taken away from his parents and natural home!
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
"He cannot bear writing, you know," she continued—"he says it is quite shocking."
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
She is so fond of Mrs. Forster, said she, it will be quite shocking to send her away!
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
He was afraid of shocking her, and he was not sure of himself.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
“Oh, but that's so shocking!” cried Dora.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Indeed, I hope it is not true, said Mrs. Price plaintively; it would be so very shocking!
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Shocking as was the idea, it was at least better than a death unfairly hastened, as, in the natural course of things, she must ere long be released.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Why, you see, Miss Eyre, it is not a common mishap: his life has been very wild: these last three years he gave himself up to strange ways, and his death was shocking.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
A shocking crime has been committed, and I think I have now laid bare every detail of it.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was only last week, when he was dining at Lord Elgin’s, that he apologized to the company for the shocking bad cooking.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"To endure is obligatory, but to like is not" (Breton proverb)
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