appall

English

Alternative forms

• appal (Commonwealth English)

Etymology

From Middle English apallen, from Old French apalir (“to grow pale, make pale”); a (Latin ad) + palir (“to grow pale, to make pale”), pâle (“pale”). See pale (adj.) and compare with pall.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ə-pôlʹ, IPA^(key): /əˈpɔːl/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːl

Verb

appall (third-person singular simple present appalls, present participle appalling, simple past and past participle appalled)

1. (transitive) To fill with horror and/or indignation; to dismay.

   Synonyms: terrify, daunt, frighten, scare, depress, (archaic) affright; see also Thesaurus:frighten

   The evidence put forth at the court appalled most of the jury.

   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

     The house of peers was somewhat appalled at this alarum.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To make pale; to blanch.
   • c. 1527–1542, Thomas Wyatt, “Thanſwere that ye made to me my dere”, in Egerton MS 2711‎^[1], page 63r:

     Thanſwere that ye made to me my dere
     whañ I did ſewe for my poore hartes redreſſe
     hathe ſo apalld my countenaunce […]

3. (transitive, obsolete) To weaken; to reduce in strength
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:

     wine of it owne nature will not congeale and freeze, onely it will loose the strength, and become appalled in extremitie of cold.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To grow faint; to become weak; to become dismayed or discouraged.
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To lose flavour or become stale.

Usage notes

• Most British dictionaries consider "appal" the sole standard UK spelling (although, as with other words ending in a single vowel followed by an "l", the "l" is always doubled for derivatives such as "appalling").

Derived terms

• appaller
• appallment

 

Translations

to depress or discourage with fear; to impress with fear

• Bulgarian: плаша (bg) (plaša), ужасявам (bg) (užasjavam)
• Finnish: kauhistuttaa (fi), tyrmistyttää (fi)
• German: entsetzen (de), abstoßen (de)
• Italian: impallidire (it)
• Maori: whakarihariha
• Persian: رنگ پریدن (rang paridan)
• Polish: zbulwersować, bulwersować (pl)
• Portuguese: consternar (pt)
• Russian: ужаса́ть (ru) impf (užasátʹ), устраша́ть (ru) impf (ustrašátʹ), пуга́ть (ru) impf (pugátʹ), потряса́ть (ru) impf (potrjasátʹ), приводи́ть в смяте́ние impf (privodítʹ v smjaténije)
• Spanish: consternar (es), abrumar (es), apabullar (es)
• Swedish: förskräcka (sv), förfära (sv), skrämma (sv)

References

• “appall”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• palpal