Scandal

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈskændÉ™l/
• Rhymes: -ændÉ™l

Origin

From Middle French scandale ("indignation caused by misconduct or defamatory speech"), from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum ("that on which one trips, cause of offense", literally stumbling block), from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, "a trap laid for an enemy, a cause of moral stumbling"), from Proto-Indo-European *skand- ("to jump"). Cognate with Latin scandō ("to climb").

First attested from Old Northern French escandle, but the modern word is a reborrowing. Sense evolution from "cause of stumbling, that which causes one to sin, stumbling block" to "discredit to reputation, that which brings shame, thing of disgrace" possibly due to early influence from other similar :sounding words for infamy and disgrace (compare Old English scand ("ignominity, scandal, disgraceful thing"), Old High German scanda ("ignominy, disgrace"), Gothic (skanda, "shame, disgrace")). See shand, shend.

Full definition of scandal

Noun

1. An incident or event that disgraces or damages the reputation of the persons or organization involved.
   Their affair was reported as a scandal by most tabloids.
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)O, what a scandal is it to our crown,
  That two such noble peers as ye should jar!
• 2006, Edwin Black, Internal Combustion Chapter 1, But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.
• 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, Our banks are out of control, Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic …. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. … But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.
2. Damage to one's reputation.
   The incident brought considerable scandal to his family.
• 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate Chapter Prologue, Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability:....
3. Widespread moral outrage, indignation, as over an offence to decency.
   When their behaviour was made public it caused a great scandal.
4. (theology) Religious discredit; an act or behaviour which brings a religion into discredit.
5. (theology) Something which hinders acceptance of religious ideas or behaviour; a stumbling-block or offense.
6. Defamatory talk; gossip, slander.
   According to village scandal, they weren't even married.
• 1855, Anthony Trollope, The Warden,Scandal at Barchester affirmed that had it not been for the beauty of his daughter, Mr. Harding would have remained a minor canon; but here probably Scandal lied, as she so often does; for even as a minor canon no one had been more popular among his reverend brethren in the close, than Mr. Harding; and Scandal, before she had reprobated Mr. Harding for being made precentor by his friend the bishop, had loudly blamed the bishop for having so long omitted to do something for his friend Mr. Harding.

Derived terms

Verb

1. (obsolete) To treat opprobriously; to defame; to slander.
• ShakespeareI do fawn on men and hug them hard
  And after scandal them.
2. (obsolete) To scandalize; to offend.