scandalous
Americanadjective
-
disgraceful; shameful or shocking; improper.
scandalous behavior in public.
-
defamatory or libelous, as a speech or writing.
-
attracted to or preoccupied with scandal, as a person.
a scandalous, vicious gossip.
Other Word Forms
- nonscandalous adjective
- nonscandalously adverb
- scandalously adverb
- scandalousness noun
- superscandalous adjective
- superscandalously adverb
- unscandalous adjective
- unscandalously adverb
Etymology
Origin of scandalous
From the Medieval Latin word scandalōsus, dating back to 1585–95. See scandal, -ous
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.
It arrives on your table like a relic from another life—hand-labeled Tupperware, chipped floral plates, backyard block parties—but somehow manages to feel both nostalgic and slightly scandalous.
From Salon
The moves drew outrage, with an umbrella organisation of the Jewish community groups labelling it "scandalous" and a "moral and civilisational disgrace for Croatia".
From Barron's
Then came the daily announcements and receipts documenting scandalous spending outrages, not all of which lived up to their original billing.
Even the scandalous news that her supposedly grieving mother-in-law seemed to be on the brink of remarriage did not force a peep from the precariously balanced Lady Constance.
From Literature
She still has problems, some old, some new, some scandalous, at least for the 1950s in which the film is set.
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.
