scandal
Americannoun
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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
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.
The scandal wasn’t merely that hoax papers were published, but that they were indistinguishable from actual scholarship in those fields.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
Dahlia Lithwick: If you put “American politics as usual” in some imaginary halcyon past at 1 and Watergate at 10, where’s this slush fund scandal registering for you?
From Slate • May 26, 2026
Richard Nixon left the White House via the South Lawn after announcing his resignation in 1974 in the culmination of the Watergate scandal, boarding a military helicopter and giving his trademark double victory sign.
From Barron's • May 26, 2026
South Korean police are seeking an arrest warrant for a YouTuber who allegedly faked evidence that defamed actor Kim Soo-hyun and fuelled a scandal which ended his career.
From BBC • May 22, 2026
The Teapot Dome scandal preoccupied the living, but the dead had their own concerns.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
Definitions 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.
