scandal

American  

[skan-dl] / ˈskæn dl /

noun

• scandals
  plural

1. a disgraceful or discreditable action, circumstance, etc.

2. an offense caused by a fault or misdeed.

3. damage to reputation; public disgrace.

   Synonyms:

   ignominy, opprobrium, disrepute, shame, dishonor, discredit

4. defamatory talk; malicious gossip.

   Synonyms:

   obloquy, aspersion, calumny, slander

   Antonyms:

   praise, honor

5. a person whose conduct brings disgrace or offense.

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verb (used with object)

scandaled, scandaling, scandalled, scandalling

1. British Dialect. to defame (someone) by spreading scandal.

2. Obsolete. to disgrace.

scandal British  

/ ˈskændəl /

noun

1. a disgraceful action or event

   his negligence was a scandal

2. censure or outrage arising from an action or event

3. a person whose conduct causes reproach or disgrace

4. malicious talk, esp gossip about the private lives of other people

5. law a libellous action or statement

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verb

1. to disgrace

2. to scandalize

Synonym Usage

See gossip.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• miniscandal
  noun
• scandalousness
  noun
• superscandal
  noun
• scandalous
  adjective
• scandalously
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• scandals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of scandal

1175–1225; from Late Latin scandalum from Late Greek skándalon “snare, cause of moral stumbling”; replacing Middle English scandle from Old French (north) escandle from Late Latin, as above

Explanation

Scandal is disgraceful events or nasty gossip about people's private lives, like the scandal that erupted when you were seen at the mall with your best friend's girlfriend. Just because there's a scandal, it doesn't mean it's always true — being seen with your friend's girl? What the gossips didn't know it that you were buying his birthday present. Some scandals, though, involve public figures who have been found guilty. For example, if a politician is found guilty of taking bribes, that's a scandal that will rock your town, causing outrage not to mention the end of that politician's career.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scandal scandals

If audiences already know the intimate details of how a very real public leak, whistle-blow, or scandal came together, what’s left for them to learn by fictionalizing it all?

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

A youth movement called the Cockroach Janta Party emerged in the spring following a scandal over a university entrance exam.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

Only one former trader in the world now remains convicted: former Barclays trader Peter Johnson, who was also one of the original whistleblowers in the interest rate rigging scandal.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

The scandal fueled a media circus and was chronicled in a book, multiple podcasts, and the biographical mini-series "The Dropout" that starred Amanda Seyfried.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

She sets down a fresh stack of newspapers, scandal sheets, and tattlers, plus a shiny beauty-scope.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

Noem was summoned before Congress over those scandals and others, including her alleged misuse of government funds on television advertisements and private luxury jets.

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026

The country's third largest city has also become a symbol of the corruption that has dogged Albania's painful transition to capitalism, with Albanians paying with their health for recurring scandals.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

The arrest is one of the biggest scandals to engulf the spy agency since its creation in the mid-1950s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

BBC Sport looks back on nine more sporting scandals, stretching back more than a century.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

Most of them had several years on me, and I could never shake the feeling that they were privy to family secrets and scandals that I was too young and innocent to know about.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Related Words

• crime
• rumor
• wrongdoing