scandalous

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin scandalosus, via French scandaleuse; as if scandal + -ous.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈskændələs/

Adjective

scandalous (comparative more scandalous, superlative most scandalous)

1. Wrong, immoral, causing a scandal.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J. M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 83, lines 415–420:

     Maſters commands come with a power reſiſtleſs / To ſuch as owe them abſolute ſubjection; / And for a life who will not change his purpoſe? / (So mutable are all the ways of men) / Yet this be ſure, in nothing to comply / Scandalous or forbidden in our Law.

   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) , London: Chatto & Windus, , →OCLC:

     The thing made a big stir in the town, too, and a good many come out flatfooted and said it was scandalous to separate the mother and the children that way.

2. Malicious, defamatory.
   • c. 1587 (date written), [Thomas Kyd], The Spanish Tragedie:  (Fourth Quarto), London: W W for T Pauier, , published 1602, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     These be the scandalous reports of such / As loves not me, and hate my lord too much.

   • 1887, Marie Corelli, Thelma

     I always disregard gossip--it is generally scandalous, and seldom true.

   • 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 6 August 2020:

     The closest Believe gets to scandalous is on the deluxe-edition bonus track “Maria,” a response song to the woman who accused Bieber of fathering her child in 2011.

3. Outrageous; exceeding reasonable limits.
   • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 131:

     '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.'

Derived terms

• scandalously
• scandalousness

Translations