appall

English

Alternative forms

• appal (occasionally in Commonwealth English)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French apalir (“to grow pale, make pale”); a (Latin ad) + palir (“to grow pale, to make pale”), pâle (“pale”). See pale (adj.) and compare with pall.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈpɔl/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Verb

appall (third-person singular simple present appalls, present participle appalling, simple past and past participle appalled)

1. (transitive) To fill with horror; to dismay.

   The evidence put forth at the court appalled most of the jury.

   • Edward Hyde Claredon

     The house of peers was somewhat appalled at this alarum.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To make pale; to blanch.
   • Wyatt

     The answer that ye made to me, my dear, […] / Hath so appalled my countenance.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To weaken; to reduce in strength
   • Holland

     Wine, of its own nature, will not congeal and freeze, only it will lose the strength, and become appalled in extremity of cold.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To grow faint; to become weak; to become dismayed or discouraged.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To lose flavour or become stale.

Synonyms

• dismay, terrify, daunt, frighten, affright, scare, depress
• See also Thesaurus:frighten

Translations

to depress or discourage with fear; to impress with fear

• Bulgarian: плаша (bg) (plaša), ужасявам (bg) (užasjavam)
• Finnish: kauhistuttaa (fi), tyrmistyttää (fi)
• German: entsetzen (de), abstoßen (de)
• Interlingue: ,
• Italian: impallidire (it)
• Maori: whakarihariha
• Persian: رنگ پریدن (rang paridan)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: zbulwersować, bulwersować (pl)
• Portuguese: consternar (pt)
• Russian: ужаса́ть (ru) impf (užasátʹ), устраша́ть (ru) impf (ustrašátʹ), пуга́ть (ru) impf (pugátʹ), потряса́ть (ru) impf (potrjasátʹ), приводи́ть в смяте́ние impf (privodítʹ v smjaténije)
• Spanish: consternar (es), abrumar (es), apabullar (es)
• Swedish: förskräcka (sv), förfära (sv), skrämma (sv)

Anagrams

• palpal