scandalize

It is a risky undertaking—one that will probably scandalize the purists—but it is also a profoundly literary one.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

Public Image Ltd., also known as PiL, did not scandalize polite society in Britain as the Sex Pistols had with their haute-guttersnipe fashion sense, obscenity-laced television tirades and unceasing potshots at the queen.

From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2022

Here’s a way to scandalize your guests at your holiday party: Serve them boxed wine.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2021

So when these powerful figures scandalize us, we lose our faith in our social world, or in our capacity to govern it.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2020

I think Jackson got it to scandalize me, since the red velvet cover was decidedly lurid, but it ended up being a very good story.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

An expression should never be banned for just being extremely offensive, regardless of whether it scandalizes a religious or any other type of cherished concept.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 19, 2022

Instead of treating them like the NFL’s beneficent owner-demigods, responsible for the league’s and players’ fortunes, college football instead ignores, scandalizes, and criminalizes any serious valuation of its athletes.

From Slate ● Dec. 1, 2020

Equally noteworthy are Georgia's "My Happy Family," a fine naturalistic examination of a 50-something woman whose desire to live alone scandalizes her patriarchal culture.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2017

He seldom scandalizes his guests and rarely flings a martini into anyone's face.

From Time Magazine Archive

Your Roman scandalizes you, and my George bores me.

From A House-Party Don Gesualdo and A Rainy June by Ouida

That moment was his public debut, and it scandalized the people who heard it.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026

From the point that his “Nude Descending a Staircase” scandalized the American art world in 1913, Duchamp’s influence on modernism was undeniable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 5, 2026

They can also feel like time capsules to other dimensions; his 12-year-old daughter was scandalized by how normative bullying was after she read “Blubber,” Blume’s 1974 novel about tween mean girls and body shaming.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026

But those who spoke to The Wall Street Journal weren’t scandalized by the show’s existence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

"Just like Superman. Grandma was scandalized and demanded a divorce there and then. He got the water running, though."

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

One narrative was that Brooks was scandalizing the idea of “real” country music because he incorporated rock music into tracks like “Papa Loved Mama” and covered Aerosmith.

From Washington Post ● May 11, 2021

There’s no record of whether Bart actually put on the robe and ascot, but he and Liberty hit it off immediately and had puppies together, scandalizing upper-crust pet society.

From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2021

Moreover, McKinley welcomed the influx of immigrants then coming to America, scandalizing the GOP’s Anglo-Saxon Protestant leadership by inviting groups of foreign-born workers to visit his Canton, Ohio, home during his campaign.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2018

Tennis was perhaps never more popular than when McEnroe and Connors were scandalizing the sport’s old guard.

From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2016

I tell you again, Duff, I'm past scandalizing; but have your way, if you will 'muzzle the ox,' and let us get away from this as soon as may be.

From Barrington Volume II (of II) by Charles James Lever