English Dictionary |
APPALL (appalled, appalling)
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
IPA (US): |
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
Conjugation: |
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)
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