: extremely startling, distressing, or offensive
shocking news
Synonyms
Examples of shocking in a Sentence
The number of young teenagers who smoke is shocking.
a shocking waste of money
The building is in a shocking state.
Recent Examples on the Web
Donald Trump made some shocking claims in his latest speech while running for president.
—
Marina Watts, Peoplemag, 10 June 2024
In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party (PVV), which last year staged a shocking first-place finish in the country’s general election, only managed to come in second place behind the Labour-Green alliance.
—Yasmeen Serhan, TIME, 10 June 2024
These confer varying effects and pose varying degrees of risk, but the most shocking thing about the piece isn’t the horror stories about things gone wrong.
—Longreads, 7 June 2024
There is already so much evidence that C.E.O.s are earning a ton of money — while most employees are not — that these annual revelations can’t be called shocking news.
—Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 7 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for shocking 
Marina Watts, Peoplemag, 10 June 2024
In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party (PVV), which last year staged a shocking first-place finish in the country’s general election, only managed to come in second place behind the Labour-Green alliance.
—Yasmeen Serhan, TIME, 10 June 2024
These confer varying effects and pose varying degrees of risk, but the most shocking thing about the piece isn’t the horror stories about things gone wrong.
—Longreads, 7 June 2024
There is already so much evidence that C.E.O.s are earning a ton of money — while most employees are not — that these annual revelations can’t be called shocking news.
—Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 7 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for shocking
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shocking.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near shocking
Cite this Entry
“Shocking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shocking. Accessed 14 Jun. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
shocking
adjective
shock·ing
: causing horror or disgust
a shocking crime
shocking behavior
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share