scandal
Americannoun
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scandals
plural
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a disgraceful or discreditable action, circumstance, etc.
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an offense caused by a fault or misdeed.
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damage to reputation; public disgrace.
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defamatory talk; malicious gossip.
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a person whose conduct brings disgrace or offense.
verb (used with object)
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British Dialect. to defame (someone) by spreading scandal.
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Obsolete. to disgrace.
noun
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a disgraceful action or event
his negligence was a scandal
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censure or outrage arising from an action or event
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a person whose conduct causes reproach or disgrace
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malicious talk, esp gossip about the private lives of other people
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law a libellous action or statement
verb
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to disgrace
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to scandalize
Synonym Usage
See gossip.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing scandal
"Laws are not the only way to boost immunization”: an editorial from Nature
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 11–September 17, 2021
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Simply Scandalous!
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
On the last day before the 2026 midterm elections, President Donald Trump gave a speech before the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a site of considerable scandal in his second term.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
Eleven Chinese nationals arrested separately in the online scam crackdown mysteriously walked free from a Madagascar jail in August in a widely publicised scandal allegedly implicating the head of the prison service.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
In the wake of that scandal, which sparked weeks of protests, some argued that Bass would be a healing force at City Hall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
That would have been just over 11 years ago, before the Dieselgate scandal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
“I don’t want a scandal any more than you do.”
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
However, Binance has faced its fair share of scandals.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
Marshall’s own scandals may be helping Hamilton, too.
From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2026
After numerous scandals under Moore, McDonnell was seen as offering stability while the city prepared for the massive security challenges of the World Cup and Olympic Games.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
As an accounting professor, I teach my students about some of the great financial scandals in modern history: SVB, WorldCom, Enron, Theranos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The recitation of these old scandals seemed to elate her as much as they horrified Doge.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
