scandalous

English

WOTD – 30 June 2025

Etymology

From Late Middle English scandalouse (“disgraceful, shameful”),[1] borrowed from Old French scandaleux (“scandalous”) (modern French scandaleux), from Medieval Latin scandalōsus, from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“scandal”)[2] + Latin -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’ forming adjectives). Scandalum is derived from Ancient Greek σκᾰ́νδᾰλον (skắndălon, “offence, scandal; snare, trap”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump”) (referring to a device for climbing or jumping on, such as might be used by someone setting a trap). By surface analysis, scandal +‎ -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance), or a relation to the nouns).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈskændələs/, /ˈskændl̩əs/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈskændələs/, /ˈskændləs/
  • Rhymes: (one pronunciation) -ændləs
  • Hyphenation: scand‧al‧ous

Adjective

scandalous (comparative more scandalous, superlative most scandalous)

  1. Of a thing: causing or having the nature of a scandal; regarded as so immoral or wrong as to be extremely disgraceful; despicable, shameful.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:despicable
    Antonyms: nonscandalous, unscandalous
  2. Of a person: delighted by scandal.
    • 1875, Alfred Tennyson, Queen Mary: A Drama, London: Henry S. King & Co., →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, pages 250–251:
      You are the stateliest deer in all the herd— / Beyond his aim—but I am small and scandalous, / And love to hear bad tales of Philip.
  3. Of speech or writing: defamatory, malicious.
    Antonyms: nonscandalous, unscandalous
    Hyponyms: (of writing) libellous, (of speech) slanderous
  4. (figurative) Exceeding reasonable limits; outrageous.
    • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XXIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 302:
      Day after day passed away without bringing any other tidings of him than the report which shortly prevailed in Meryton of his coming no more to Netherfield the whole winter; a report which highly incensed Mrs. Bennet, and which she never failed to contradict as a most scandalous falsehood.
    • 1934, Agatha Christie, “The Evidence of Colonel Arbuthnot”, in Murder on the Orient Express (Great Reads Collection; Agatha Christie Collection), London: Planet Three Publishing Network, published [2006], →ISSN, →OCLC, part II (The Evidence), page 97:
      There was a blizzard on. The cold was something frightful. Made one quite thankful to get back to the fug, though as a rule I think the way these trains are overheated is something scandalous.
  5. (archaic or obsolete) Of a person: guilty of extremely disgraceful conduct or some misconduct; infamous; also, unfit for their office or position due to misconduct, etc.
    • 1670, Izaak Walton, “The Life of Dr. John Donne, Late Dean of St. Paul’s Church, London”, in The Lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert. […], volume I, London: […] Tho[mas] Newcomb for Richard Marriott, […], →OCLC, page 47:
      [H]e vvas enabled [financially] to become charitable to the poor, and kind to his friends, and to make ſuch proviſion for his children, that they vvere not left ſcandalous, as relating to their or his Profeſſion and Quality.
    • 1668 March 27 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Andrew Marvell, “[Andrew Marvell’s Letters to the Corporation of Hull.] Letter LXV. Mr. Anthony Lambert, Mayor.”, in The Works of Andrew Marvell, Esq.: Poetical, Controversial, and Political, […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, and sold by [James] Dodsley, […], published 1776, →OCLC, page 98:
      [T]hey [Parliament] ſeemed inclinable to abate the renunciation of the Covenant, the aſſent and conſent to the diſpenſing vvith Ceremonyes, the reforming the Biſhops Courts, the taking avvay of Pluralityes, the rectifying of Excommunications, the puniſhing of ſcandalous Clergymen, and ſeverall things of this nature, […]
    • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “Book III”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], volume I, part I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, published 1707, →OCLC, page 224:
      [T]he Houſe of Peers had aſſign'd him ſuch Council as he deſired, to aſſiſt him in matter of Lavv (vvhich never vvas, or can juſtly be denied to the moſt ſcandalous Felon, the moſt inhuman Murtherer, or the moſt infamous Traitor) […]
  6. (law) Of information, a statement, etc.: not pertinent to a matter; irrelevant, and bringing the court into disrepute.
    • 1750 October 17 (date delivered), Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, “Fenhoulet versus Passavant”, in Francis Vezey, editor, Cases Argued and Determined, in the High Court of Chancery, in the Time of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, from the Year 1746–7, to 1755. […], volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan and M. Woodfall, law-printers to his Majesty; for T[homas] Cadell, […], published 1771, →OCLC, case 9, page 24:
      Scandal may be taken advantage of at any time, impertinence not; if reported ſcandalous, it muſt be impertinent of courſe; but it may be impertinent vvithout being ſcandalous. […] [N]othing pertinent to the cauſe can be ſaid to be ſcandalous.
    • 1837, O[liver] L[orenzo] Barbour, E[benezer] B[urke] Harrington, “Practice. XXIII. Evidence.”, in An Analytical Digest of the Equity Cases Decided in the Courts of the Several States, and of the United States, from the Earliest Period; and of the Decisions in Equity, in the Courts of Chancery and Exchequer in England and Ireland, and the Privy Council and House of Lords, from Hilary Term, 1822: […], volume III, Springfield, Mass.: G[eorge] and C[harles] Merriam, →OCLC, paragraph 10, page 382:
      A party who makes an affidavit to oppose a motion is only authorized to state the facts; and it is scandalous and impertinent to draw inferences or state arguments in the affidavit, reflecting on the character or impeaching the motives of the adverse party or his solicitor. Ibid. [Powell v. Kane, 5 Paige, 265.]
  7. (obsolete)
    1. Causing offence or trouble.
    2. (pathology, uncertain) Of a disease or symptom: putrid, rotting.
      • 1676, Richard Wiseman, “The First Book. A Treatise of Tumours. Chapter VI. Of the Ill Consequences of a Gonorrhœa Cured.”, in Severall Chirurgicall Treatises, London: […] E. Flesher and J. Macock, for R[ichard] Royston […], and B[enjamin] Took, […], →OCLC, page 66:
        Theſe are the Ulcers vvhich render fiſtulæ ani [anal fistulas] ſcandalous. If the matter paſſeth in perineo, for the moſt part it perforates the Urethra, ſometime like a Flute, and the Urine cometh thereout, othertimes it corrupteth vvithin, and diſchargeth the putrefaction into the pelvis.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “scandalǒuse, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “scandalous, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024; “scandalous, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.