appall
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To fill with intense horror, shock, or dismay; to cause a strong feeling of revulsion or alarm.
- To greatly offend or disgust someone's moral or aesthetic sensibilities.
Usage and Examples
- To cause horror or alarm:
- The graphic images from the war zone appalled the international community.
- The sheer scale of the environmental disaster appalls scientists.
- To shock with offensive behavior:
- His complete lack of empathy appalled everyone in the room.
- The vandalism of the historic monument appalls all who see it.
Advanced Usage
- "to be appalled at/by something": This is the most common construction to describe the state of feeling appalled.
- We were deeply appalled at the cruel treatment of the animals.
- She was appalled by the rudeness of the comment.
Variants and Related Words
- Appalling (adjective): Causing shock or horror; very bad.
- The conditions in the prison were appalling.
- Appallingly (adverb): In a shocking or horrifying manner; to a shocking degree.
- The system failed appallingly.
Synonyms
- Horrify: To cause to feel horror.
- Shock: To cause a sudden and disturbing surprise or outrage.
- Dismay: To cause someone to feel distress or alarm.
- Revolt: To cause to feel disgust.
Antonyms
- Please: To make someone feel happy and satisfied.
- Delight: To please someone greatly.
- Reassure: To say or do something to remove someone's doubts or fears.
Related Phrases
- An appalling lack of...: Used to emphasize a severe deficiency in something expected.
- The report showed an appalling lack of basic safety measures.
- Find something appalling: To consider something shocking or offensive.
- I find his attitude appalling.
Verb
- fill with apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised
- I was horrified at the thought of being late for my interview
- The news of the executions horrified us
- strike with disgust or revulsion
- The scandalous behavior of this married woman shocked her friends