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Webster 1913 Edition

Scandal

Scan′dal

,
Noun.
[F.
scandale
, fr. L.
scandalum
, Gr. [GREEK], a snare laid for an enemy, a stumbling block, offense, scandal: cf. OE.
scandle
, OF.
escandle
. See
Slander
.]
1.
Offense caused or experienced; reproach or reprobation called forth by what is regarded as wrong, criminal, heinous, or flagrant: opprobrium or disgrace.
O, what a
scandal
is it to our crown,
That two such noble peers as ye should jar!
Shakespeare
[I] have brought
scandal

To Israel, diffidence of God, and doubt
In feeble hearts.
Milton.
2.
Reproachful aspersion; opprobrious censure; defamatory talk, uttered heedlessly or maliciously.
You must not put another
scandal
on him.
Shakespeare
My known virtue is from
scandal
free.
Dryden.
3.
(Equity)
Anything alleged in pleading which is impertinent, and is reproachful to any person, or which derogates from the dignity of the court, or is contrary to good manners.
Daniell.
Syn. – Defamation; detraction; slander; calumny; opprobrium; reproach; shame; disgrace.

Scan′dal

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To treat opprobriously; to defame; to asperse; to traduce; to slander.
[R.]
I do fawn on men and hug them hard
And after
scandal
them.
Shakespeare
2.
To scandalize; to offend.
[Obs.]
Bp. Story.
Syn. – To defame; traduce; reproach; slander; calumniate; asperse; vilify; disgrace.

Webster 1828 Edition

Scandal

SCAN'DAL

,
Noun.
[L. scandalum; Gr. In Greek, this word signifies a stumbling block, something against which a person impinges, or which causes him to fall.]
1.
Offense given by the faults of another.
His lustful orgies he enlarg'd even to the hill of scandal.
[In this sense, we now generally use offense.]
2.
Reproachful aspersion; opprobrious censure; defamatory speech or report; something uttered which is false and injurious to reputation.
My known virtue is from scandal free.
3.
Shame; reproach; disgrace. Such is the perverted state of the human mind that some of the most heinous crimes bring little scandal upon the offender.

SCAN'DAL

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To treat opprobriously; to defame; to asperse; to traduce; to blacken character.
I do fawn on men, and hug them hard, and after scandal them. [Little used.]
2.
To scandalize; to offend. [Not used.]

Definition 2024

scandal

scandal

English

Noun

scandal ‎(plural scandals)

  1. An incident or event that disgraces or damages the reputation of the persons or organization involved.
    Their affair was reported as a scandal by most tabloids.‎
    • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
      O, what a scandal is it to our crown,
      That two such noble peers as ye should jar!
    • 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 1:
      Well, yes, a couple of leaks are all very well, but it takes more than that... A big scandal perhaps. A political scandal. Or a scandal about something people really understand: Sex... or money.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:
      But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.
  2. Damage to one's reputation.
    The incident brought considerable scandal to his family.‎
    • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, Prologue:
      Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […].
  3. Widespread moral outrage, indignation, as over an offence to decency.
    When their behaviour was made public it caused a great scandal.‎
  4. (theology) Religious discredit; an act or behaviour which brings a religion into discredit.
  5. (theology) Something which hinders acceptance of religious ideas or behaviour; a stumbling-block or offense.
  6. Defamatory talk; gossip, slander.
    According to village scandal, they weren't even married.‎
    • 1855, Anthony Trollope, The Warden, chapter 1
      Scandal at Barchester affirmed that had it not been for the beauty of his daughter, Mr. Harding would have remained a minor canon; but here probably Scandal lied, as she so often does; for even as a minor canon no one had been more popular among his reverend brethren in the close, than Mr. Harding; and Scandal, before she had reprobated Mr. Harding for being made precentor by his friend the bishop, had loudly blamed the bishop for having so long omitted to do something for his friend Mr. Harding.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

scandal ‎(third-person singular simple present scandals, present participle scandalling or scandaling, simple past and past participle scandalled or scandaled)

  1. (obsolete) To treat opprobriously; to defame; to slander.
    • Shakespeare
      I do fawn on men and hug them hard / And after scandal them.
  2. (obsolete) To scandalize; to offend.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Story to this entry?)

Etymology

From Middle French scandale ‎(“indignation caused by misconduct or defamatory speech”), from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum ‎(“that on which one trips, cause of offense”, literally “stumbling block”), from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον ‎(skándalon, “a trap laid for an enemy, a cause of moral stumbling”), from Proto-Indo-European *skand- ‎(“to jump”). Cognate with Latin scandō ‎(“to climb”). First attested from Old Northern French escandle, but the modern word is a reborrowing. Sense evolution from "cause of stumbling, that which causes one to sin, stumbling block" to "discredit to reputation, that which brings shame, thing of disgrace" is possibly due to early influence from other similar sounding words for infamy and disgrace (compare Old English scand ‎(“ignominity, scandal, disgraceful thing”), Old High German scanda ‎(“ignominy, disgrace”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰 ‎(skanda, “shame, disgrace”)). See shand, shend.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈskændəl/
  • Rhymes: -ændəl

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