scandal
noun
Simple meaning
An incident or event that disgraces or damages the reputation of the persons or organization involved.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skanduhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskændəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An incident or event that disgraces or damages the reputation of the persons or organization involved.
Damage to one's reputation.
A disgraceful event
Widespread moral outrage, indignation, as over an offence to decency.
Defamatory talk; gossip, slander.
philippinescolloquial
Amateur or homemade pornography; (informal) commotion.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An incident or event that disgraces or damages the reputation of the persons or organization involved.
Used this way, scandal is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- malicious gossip , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use scandal
- “The politician resigned after a major scandal became public knowledge.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A government scandal involving a former United States Navy oil reserve in Wyoming that was secretly leased to a private oil company in 1921.
A political scandal involving abuse of power and bribery and obstruction of justice.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.