scuttled

[skuht-ld]

adjective

1. (of a vessel) deliberately sunk, often by opening seacocks or making openings in the hull.

   It is important to ensure that the scuttled vessel is suitably weighted and negatively buoyant so it will sink rapidly and remain stable on the bottom.

2. abandoned, dropped, cut, or thwarted, as a hope, plan, program, etc..

   In the fallout over the scuttled deal, two executives were fired for ethical violations related to the negotiations.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of scuttle.

Word History and Origins

Origin of scuttled¹

First recorded in 1740–50; scuttle ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; scuttle ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

But as Roz stomped closer and closer, the pigeons scuttled out of the way to let her pass by.

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The Honolulu Harbour Board confirmed it had the ship towed into deep water about 25 miles offshore on Wednesday and then scuttled.

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This is shrewd on both the merits and politics, and it’s instructive that Democrats scuttled a procedural vote 50-44.

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Luckily, the man scuttled back into his vehicle and drove off as soon as I looked him in the eye and sized him up.

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Two of the wind projects were scuttled by developers, while three others got built.

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Related Words

• scamper 
• scurry