scandal
An incident or event that disgraces or damages the reputation of the persons or organization involved.
Example
“Their affair was reported as a scandal by most tabloids.”
Other meanings
Damage to one's reputation.
“The incident brought considerable scandal to his family.”
Widespread moral outrage, indignation, as over an offence to decency.
“When their behaviour was made public it caused a great scandal.”
Synonyms
- outrage
Related words
- nonscandal
- postscandal
- prescandal
- scandalette
- scandalise
- scandalism
- scandalproof
- scandalsome
- Russian scandal
- scandal bag
- scandalize
- scandalmonger
Word history
From Ancient Greek "σκάνδαλον" (a trap laid for an enemy, a cause of moral stumbling).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “scandal” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.