: 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
So these recent revelations that Adams is willing to sacrifice our immigrant communities as part of his quid pro quo is shocking.
—
Steven Choi, New York Daily News, 15 Feb. 2025
But even more shocking might be how Pryor, without missing a beat, puts his soon-to-be new boss in his place with help from a few choice words of his own.
—Shannon Carlin, TIME, 15 Feb. 2025
The escalating tension of that final act is as shocking and violent and viciously cold as anything in Franco’s filmography, which has seldom shied away from stark depictions of human cruelty — whether intimate in scale, like After Lucia, or encompassing explosive societal conflict, like New Order.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Feb. 2025
Head coach Kevin O'Connell won Coach of the Year after the team secured a shocking 14-3 record.
—Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 15 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for shocking 
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Steven Choi, New York Daily News, 15 Feb. 2025
But even more shocking might be how Pryor, without missing a beat, puts his soon-to-be new boss in his place with help from a few choice words of his own.
—Shannon Carlin, TIME, 15 Feb. 2025
The escalating tension of that final act is as shocking and violent and viciously cold as anything in Franco’s filmography, which has seldom shied away from stark depictions of human cruelty — whether intimate in scale, like After Lucia, or encompassing explosive societal conflict, like New Order.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Feb. 2025
Head coach Kevin O'Connell won Coach of the Year after the team secured a shocking 14-3 record.
—Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 15 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for shocking
Dictionary Entries Near shocking
Cite this Entry
“Shocking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shocking. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
shocking
adjective
shock·ing
: causing horror or disgust
a shocking crime
shocking behavior
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