To scandalize means to shock or offend people by doing something they consider morally wrong or highly improper. When someone scandalizes their community, they behave in a way that violates shared standards of decency or respectability, causing widespread disapproval.

A student might scandalize their school by breaking a serious rule everyone respects. A public figure might scandalize audiences by saying something offensive on television. In historical contexts, women who wore pants in the 1920s scandalized society simply by defying traditional expectations about proper dress.

The word captures a strong reaction that goes beyond mild surprise. To scandalize means to genuinely upset or disturb people by violating important principles or values. If you forget your homework, your teacher might be disappointed. But if you copied someone else's work and claimed it as your own, you might scandalize your teacher because cheating violates a basic principle of honesty.

Notice that what scandalizes people changes across time and cultures. Actions that seemed shocking a century ago might seem normal today, and vice versa. The word scandalous describes something shocking enough to create a scandal, which is a public incident that damages someone's reputation through real or perceived wrongdoing.