scapegrace

[ skeyp-greys ]

/ ˈskeɪpˌgreɪs /

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noun

a complete rogue or rascal; a habitually unscrupulous person; scamp.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of scapegrace

First recorded in 1800–10; scape² + grace

Words nearby scapegrace

scanty, Scapa Flow, scape, scapegoat, scapegoatism, scapegrace, scape wheel, scapho-, scaphocephalic, scaphocephaly, scaphoid

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use scapegrace in a sentence

Now this younger son—I believe that he is in his twenty-first year at present—has been something of a scapegrace.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
That scapegrace brother is the one of all that family most worthy your respect and mine.
The Diamond Coterie|Lawrence L. Lynch
His military service involved him in the wild pleasures and perils of scapegrace lads upon a foreign soil.
The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the first|Count Carlo Gozzi
Yes they can, aunt, if she married a man whom she knew to be a scapegrace because he was very rich and an earl.
Can You Forgive Her?|Anthony Trollope

One winter a young scapegrace stole a sailboat from the wharf and put out to sea.
American Inventions and Inventors|William A. Mowry

British Dictionary definitions for scapegrace

scapegrace

/ (ˈskeɪpˌɡreɪs) /

noun

an idle mischievous person

Word Origin for scapegrace

C19: from scape ² + grace, alluding to a person who lacks God's grace

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

scapegrace

Origin of scapegrace

Words nearby scapegrace

Words related to scapegrace

How to use scapegrace in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for scapegrace

Word Origin for scapegrace