phrasal/idiomatic verb (look + adjective) · formal
look aghast
/lʊk əˈgæst/look a·GHAST
task2speaking
to appear shocked, horrified, or very surprised
Examples
“At the news of the cuts, the committee members looked aghast.”
“I looked aghast when I realised I'd missed the deadline.”
“Many readers looked aghast at the newspaper's headline.”
Band 8 sentence
“When the council announced the sudden closure, residents looked aghast at the thought of losing their services.”
Collocations
- look aghast at
Word family
looked aghast verb (past)looking aghast verb (gerund)
Common mistakes
use 'surprised' for all contexts→use 'look aghast' when nghĩa là 'sững sờ, hơi tiêu cực'
Say it for a higher band
5be surprised→6look surprised→7+look aghast
Synonyms
be shocked
gasp
Easily confused
look surprised
“She looked surprised when she heard the news.”
Related words
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