Scots

American

[skots] / skɒts /

noun

Also called Scottish. the English language as spoken in Scotland.

adjective

Scottish.

Scots British

/ skɒts /

adjective

of, relating to, or characteristic of Scotland, its people, their English dialects, or their Gaelic language

"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

noun

any of the English dialects spoken or written in Scotland See also Lallans

"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

Commonly Confused

See Scotch.

Etymology

Origin of Scots

1325–75; syncopated form of Scottis, Middle English, variant (north) of Scottish

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.

See Examples For:

Scots

For his advocacy of English prose in the sweet and easy styles of Joseph Addison and Jonathan Swift, the Scots bookworm has been heralded as “a founder of the study of English in universities.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

The Scots thinker did not invent many of the economic concepts in his most influential book.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Thomas: It's hard to make a judgement on Pocognoli because most Scots have never heard of him.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

"The thing that surprised me was how early on there were these Scots and Irish marrying Native Americans," he said.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

That was because Mary, Queen of Scots, is another of my illustrious ancestors.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023