Appalled Meaning
/əˈpɔld/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjShocked, horrified by something unpleasant.
verbsimple past and past participle of appall
Sentence Examples
I was appalled at the sight.
I'm appalled. You leave me speechless.
I'm appalled at how badly those children behave.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The community was ____ by the school's decision to cut arts funding.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She was deeply ____ at the sight of the trash in the city park.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English appall English -ed English appalled From appall + -ed.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"But the purported rise in violent videos online has led some MPs to campaign for courts to have more power to remove or block material on YouTube. The Labour MP Heidi Alexander said she was appalled after a constituent was robbed at knifepoint, and the attackers could be found brandishing weapons and rapping about gang violence online."
— 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian:
"West's friends were so appalled by the nature of his death that they arranged for a wooden memorial in the churchyard of St Laurence's, constructed aptly from a railway sleeper."
— 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Reading (1840)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 56:
"Dr. Frank Hoffman, a gynecologist and founder of the program, says he was appalled by the sheer numbers of cases of early-stage breast cancer that were being missed, not just in Germany but around the world."
— 2024 September 8, Kamala Thiagarajan, “Women who are blind play a critical role in identifying possible breast cancers”, in NPR:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The community was ____ by the school's decision to cut arts funding.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She was deeply ____ at the sight of the trash in the city park.