scandalize

English

Alternative forms

• scandalise (UK)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskændəlaɪz/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Latin scandalizō, from Ancient Greek σκανδαλίζω (skandalízō). By surface analysis, scandal +‎ -ize.

Verb

scandalize (third-person singular simple present scandalizes, present participle scandalizing, simple past and past participle scandalized)

1. (transitive) To cause great offense to (someone).
   • 1881, Thomas à Kempis, T[homas] T[hellusson] Carter, reviser and editor, “The Valley of Lilies”, in Instructions for Religious, London: J. Masters and Co., […]; and J. Pott, […], New York, chapter XV (Of persevering with Constancy in the Order and Monastery which we have chosen), page 45:

     Woe to thee who art often wandering abroad, and spendest thy time unprofitably, and scandalizest others.

   • 1896, Ernest Rénan, translated by Eleanor Grant Vickery, Caliban: A Philosophical Drama Continuing “The Tempest” of William Shakespeare (Publications of The Shakespeare Society of New York; No. 9), New York, N.Y.: The Shakespeare Press; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., page 19:

     Thou scandalizest me and irritatest my nature as much as it possibly can be irritated.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 62:

     When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.

2. (transitive) To reproach.
3. (transitive) To disgrace.
4. (transitive) To libel.

Derived terms

• scandalization

Etymology 2

From scantle.

Verb

scandalize (third-person singular simple present scandalizes, present participle scandalizing, simple past and past participle scandalized)

1. (nautical) 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.
   • 1887, Mrs. Dominic D. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 16:

     The mainsail was "scandalised" - a nautical mode of describing a sail reefed at both ends[.]