scathe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to attack with severe criticism.
-
to hurt, harm, or injure, as by scorching.
noun
verb
-
rare to attack with severe criticism
-
archaic to injure
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of scathe
before 1000; (noun) Middle English scath ( e ), scade, schath ( e ) < Old Norse skathi damage, harm, cognate with Old English sc ( e ) atha malefactor, injury (with which the Middle English forms with sch- might be identified); (v.) Middle English scath ( e ), skath ( e ) < Old Norse skatha, cognate with Old English sceathian
Explanation
To scathe is to obliterate something as if you'd burned it to ashes — or to direct ferocious, fiery disapproval or anger in the direction of a person. The verb scathe is pretty old-fashioned; these days you're more likely to encounter the adjectives scathing and unscathed. The word derives from a root meaning "to harm or injure," and it was once used in both a literal and figurative way. Long ago, you might have scathed your old love letters by burning them in the fireplace, and then scathed your sister by telling her to get lost when she asked what you were doing.
Vocabulary lists containing scathe
"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 1
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Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 1
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Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 2
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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.
I suggest an ibid of historians, a ponder of scientists, a scathe of bureaucrats.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Heathen wight, and Christian knight, I would fight with glad and fain; Only not with Verland’s son, For from him I scathe must gain.”
From Ulf Van Yern and Other Ballads by Borrow, George Henry
This was not done without scathe, however; Brian's men loosed their muskets, and one by one the heavy bastards thundered out across the snow, though the result was hard to see in the darkness.
From Nuala O'Malley by Bedford-Jones, H.
“I hope I am to take no scathe for coming promptly and cordially to welcome your majesty to my poor district.”
From A Prince of Good Fellows by Barr, Robert
To find the child of Janak still Alive and free from scathe and ill!
From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Griffith, Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin)
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.
