scandalous
adjective
Simple meaning
Of speech or writing: defamatory.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skanduhluhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskændələs
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.
adjective
Of a thing: causing or having the nature of a scandal; regarded as so immoral or wrong as to be extremely disgraceful; despicable, shameful.
Of speech or writing: defamatory, malicious.
figurative
Exceeding reasonable limits; outrageous.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of a thing: causing or having the nature of a scandal; regarded as so immoral or wrong as to be extremely disgraceful; despicable, shameful.
Used this way, scandalous is a reasonably familiar word carrying real weight of difficulty or hurt. It lands hard, so it overstates anything mild. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Strongly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Very strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Harsh or blunt
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Scandalous is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: of a thing
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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.