scot-free

[skot-free]

adjective

1. completely free from harm, restraint, punishment, or obligation.

   The driver of the car escaped from the accident scot-free. The judge let the defendant off scot-free.

scot-free

adverb

1. (predicative) without harm, loss, or penalty

Word History and Origins

Origin of scot-free¹

Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; scot, -free

Word History and Origins

Origin of scot-free¹

C16: see _{scot and lot}

Example Sentences

There are other similarly situated individuals who get off scot-free for perjury.

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But there are winners and losers and winners who feel like losers and schemers who get away with their misdeeds scot-free.

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The high court’s decision shocks the conscience, as it effectively allows the federal government to get away scot-free with defying a lower court judge’s order, establishing an extraordinarily dangerous precedent.

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“We are now seeing what it means for the Trump Administration to destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — it is letting off scot-free a deceptive company that claimed 0% APR for payday loans of 400% APR or higher, with interest disguised in fake ‘tips’ and ‘donations’ that virtually everyone was forced to pay,” Lauren Saunders, associate director at the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center, said in a statement reported by CNN.

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The justices are now all on notice that if they continue to flout this federal statute, then they can get off scot-free.

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