scoundrel
Americannoun
-
scoundrels
plural
adjective
noun
Synonym Usage
See knave.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of scoundrel
First recorded in 1580–90; origin uncertain
Explanation
A scoundrel is a person who does deliberately evil things. If your brother hides a fake mouse in your shoe and you therefore almost have a heart attack while getting dressed, you have every right to call him a scoundrel. Though the term scoundrel isn’t used as much as it once was, it’s the perfect way to describe someone who breaks the law, has no morals, or someone like your sneaky sibling who loves to play practical jokes. Most villains in movies and on television can be put in this category. Interestingly, though women are quite capable of equally wicked behavior, this particular term is usually reserved for men.
Vocabulary lists containing scoundrel
Scrooge, Grinch, and Churl: Wonderful Words for Unpleasant People
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"The Treasure of Lemon Brown"
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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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.
See Examples For:
They left behind more than 40 loaded cannons, provisions and “some of that scoundrel Common Sense man’s letters, which we can read at our leisure.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
In American journalism it is permissible, although not as common as it needs to be, to call an elected scoundrel a scoundrel.
From Salon ● May 20, 2023
Brash and whip smart, she is the novel’s heartbeat, the shoot-from-the-hip scoundrel you love to root for.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2023
Meanwhile, Dukes’s fellow delegates at the statehouse derided him as a scoundrel and maneuvered to expel him from office.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 26, 2022
Had no future, was a scamp, possibly even a scoundrel.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
The platonic love between Helen and Sam—she straight, he gay—is very real and very moving, as long as one disregards the inconvenient fact that they’re all scoundrels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
How, in a legislative body that has always maintained a large contingent of scoundrels, did Swalwell and Gonzales get the boot in such quick succession—with more potentially in the pipeline?
From Slate ● Apr. 16, 2026
Grace and Faith must work together, using their namesake virtues to outsmart the scoundrels and stay alive, and to say it’s far less effective than it was seven years ago is an understatement.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2026
The show, a touring tutorial he created and performs solo, allows Page the opportunity to animate with barnstorming crackle a rogue’s gallery of Shakespearean scoundrels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2026
Let’s stamp out the scoundrels, and never mind what their motives are!
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
