These words refer to behaviour that is intolerable in immoral, or to taste that is extremely vulgar. Outrageous can function in any of these ways. When its reference is to morality, it suggests irredeemable depravity: an outrageous distortion of truth. In reference to impropriety, it suggests extreme disapproval for conscious audacity: outrageous manners for which he didn’t even bother to apologize. In reference to taste, it tends to be merely a vague hyperbole: her outrageous notion of what styles were most becoming to her. Shocking may apply either to an act of extreme immorality or to an unexpected or astonishing breach of manners: a shocking disregard for human life; his shocking rudeness to the elderly man. Where outrageous suggests an indignant response, shocking suggests a startled one. Outrageous , consequently, implies the stronger reaction of the two. Both may be used in a positive way: Tuscany’s outrageous loveliness; the woman’s shocking beauty.

Scandalous and unspeakable are more closely restricted to manners alone. Scandalous suggests a furore-creating breach of conduct; unspeakable suggests a violation of decency beyond the power of words to describe: their scandalous quarrels in full view of the neighbours; an unspeakable oaf. In a more prudish age, both words could actually refer euphemistically to anything thought indelicate: unspeakable frankness; the play’s scandalous suggestiveness. Unspeakable , however, has maintained a wider range of viable uses than scandalous : unspeakable cruelty; unspeakable taste.

Atrocious , like outrageous , can still refer to extremely immoral acts: such atrocious customs as slavery and flogging. Monstrous , similarly, can still describe something extremely immoral, abnormal or deformed: the monstrous policy of genocide. But both words have so often been used hyperbolically for anything bad or unpleasant that their original senses have been diluted: atrocious weather; monstrous luck. As hyperboles, both are commonly used to describe extremely bad manners or vulgar taste: atrocious rudeness; a monstrous style of painting.