shocking

adjective

shock·​ing ˈshä-kiŋ 

: extremely startling, distressing, or offensive

shocking news

shockingly

ˈshä-kiŋ-lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• amazing
• astonishing
• astounding
• blindsiding
• dumbfounding
• dumfounding
• eye-opening
• flabbergasting
• jarring
• jaw-dropping
• jolting
• startling
• stunning
• stupefying
• surprising

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

The size of his collection is shocking: A Long Beach resident is using social media to chronicle his mission to amass the world’s largest VHS collection of the 1999 film starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. —Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2025

May 5, 2025: Leo attends his first Met Gala (which is kind of shocking in and of itself) alongside Ceretti, who made her Met Gala debut in 2021. —Glamour, 9 May 2025

During a text exchange afterwards, Hanley asked Sobule if the New York experience was shocking. —David Browne, Rolling Stone, 9 May 2025

Wednesday’s Survivor cooked up what could’ve been the season’s biggest, most shocking blindside of the season. —Nick Caruso, TVLine, 8 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1653, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing shocking

• shocking pink

Rhymes for shocking

• blocking
• caulking
• chalking
• clocking
• cocking
• docking
• flocking
• gawking
• knocking
• locking
• mocking
• rocking

Kids Definition

shocking

adjective

shock·​ing

: causing horror or disgust

a shocking crime

shocking behavior

shockingly

-iŋ-lē 

adverb