: extremely startling, distressing, or offensive
shocking news
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
Things that are shocking and terrible provoke our curiosity; if nothing ever went wrong, there would be no newspapers.
—
Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
What happened to Kimmel was shocking to many, but censorship issues are not new to the country.
—Abbey White, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2025
The Cincinnati Bengals pulled off a shocking trade for former Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Oct. 2025
The fact that there’s someone who has breached that and is sitting in her living room waiting to speak to her is obviously pretty shocking for Blue.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 8 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shocking
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Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
What happened to Kimmel was shocking to many, but censorship issues are not new to the country.
—Abbey White, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2025
The Cincinnati Bengals pulled off a shocking trade for former Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Oct. 2025
The fact that there’s someone who has breached that and is sitting in her living room waiting to speak to her is obviously pretty shocking for Blue.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 8 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shocking
Cite this Entry
“Shocking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shocking. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
shocking
adjective
shock·ing
: causing horror or disgust
a shocking crime
shocking behavior
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