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causing dismay or horror:
an appalling accident; an appalling lack of manners.
.
to fill or overcome with horror, consternation, or fear; dismay:
He was appalled by the damage from the fire. I am appalled at your mistakes.
Contemporary Examples

“I want to show people that climbing does not have to be an appalling, suicidal endeavor,” Viesturs said.
Mountain Man John Douglas Marshall October 27, 2009

He and Mother Church—from whose tender embrace I myself have regrettably lapsed—will both be made out to be appalling hypocrites.
The Audacity of Poping Christopher Buckley March 25, 2009

The administration has amassed not just a middling or even moderately bad foreign-policy record, but an appalling one.
Not Just the Middle East: Obama Foreign Policy Record Is Appalling David B. Rivkin, Jr., Lee A. Casey September 20, 2012

Palin could play a similar role in the 2012 primaries, riling up the base while appalling moderates and independents.
Run, Sarah, Run! Michelle Goldberg July 22, 2009

The hearings on Bernard Madoff yesterday were an appalling indictment of those failed regulators.
The Bag Lady Papers, Part V Alexandra Penney February 4, 2009

Historical Examples

The endlessness of such a subtly cruel situation was appalling—if you think of it.
Lord Jim Joseph Conrad

Their ignorance, with the single exception of horse-flesh, is appalling.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 Various

Miss Fraenkel waited for this appalling development to sink into our minds.
Aliens William McFee

After another hour’s work the monkey made an appalling discovery.
The Monkey That Would Not Kill Henry Drummond

The final triumph of militarism would be too appalling to contemplate.
Our National Defense: George Hebard Maxwell

adjective
causing extreme dismay, horror, or revulsion
very bad
verb -pals, -palling, -palled (US) -palls, -palling, -palled
(transitive) to fill with horror; shock or dismay
adj.

1620s, present participle adjective from appall. Colloquial weakened sense of “distasteful” is attested from 1919.
v.

also appal, early 14c., “to fade;” c.1400, “to grow pale,” from Old French apalir “become or make pale,” from a- “to” (see ad-) + palir “grow pale,” from Latin pallere (see pallor). Meaning “cause dismay or shock,” is 1530s. Related: Appalled; appalling.