DictionaryRoot: skandalon
Greek

skandalon

stumbling block, offense

1 / 1
A card player openly cheats by slipping a concealed ace from his sleeve; the woman who sees it recoils in shocked moral disapproval.
verb

scandalize

SKAN-duh-lyze/ˈskændəlaɪz/

To shock or offend someone's sense of what is right or proper.

Etymology

The stumbling block became an image of something that causes moral stumbling or offense. To scandalize people came to mean shocking their moral sensibilities through improper behavior.

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