scandalous

adj

Etymology: From Late Middle English scandalouse (“disgraceful, shameful”), borrowed from Old French scandaleux (“scandalous”) (modern French scandaleux), from Medieval Latin scandalōsus, from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“scandal”) + Latin -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’ forming adjectives). Scandalum is derived from Ancient Greek σκᾰ́νδᾰλον (skắndălon, “offence, scandal; snare, trap”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump”) (referring to a device for climbing or jumping on, such as might be used by someone setting a trap). By surface analysis, scandal + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance), or a relation to the nouns).

1. Of a thing: causing or having the nature of a scandal; regarded as so immoral or wrong as to be extremely disgraceful; despicable, shameful.

   “[S]omthing ſauors / Of Tyrannie, and vvill ignoble make you, / Yea, ſcandalous to the VVorld.”

   “Maſters commands come vvith a povver reſiſtleſs / To ſuch as ovve them abſolute ſubjection; / And for a life vvho vvill not change his purpoſe? / (So mutable are all the vvays of men) / Yet this be ſure, in nothing to comply / Scandalous or forbidden in our Lavv.”

2. Of a person: delighted by scandal.

   “You are the stateliest deer in all the herd— / Beyond his aim—but I am small and scandalous, / And love to hear bad tales of Philip.”

3. Of speech or writing: defamatory, malicious.

   “Theſe be the ſcandalous reportes of ſuch, / As loues not mee, and hate my Lord too much.”

   “Shall vve thus permit / A blaſting and ſcandalous breath to fall, / On him ſo neere vs?”

4. Exceeding reasonable limits; outrageous.

   “Day after day passed away without bringing any other tidings of him than the report which shortly prevailed in Meryton of his coming no more to Netherfield the whole winter; a report which highly incensed Mrs. Bennet, and which she never failed to contradict as a most scandalous falsehood.”

   “There was a blizzard on. The cold was something frightful. Made one quite thankful to get back to the fug, though as a rule I think the way these trains are overheated is something scandalous.”

5. Of a person: guilty of extremely disgraceful conduct or some misconduct; infamous; also, unfit for their office or position due to misconduct, etc.

   “[H]e vvas enabled [financially] to become charitable to the poor, and kind to his friends, and to make ſuch proviſion for his children, that they vvere not left ſcandalous, as relating to their or his Profeſſion and Quality.”

   “[T]hey [Parliament] ſeemed inclinable to abate the renunciation of the Covenant, the aſſent and conſent to the diſpenſing vvith Ceremonyes, the reforming the Biſhops Courts, the taking avvay of Pluralityes, the rectifying of Excommunications, the puniſhing of ſcandalous Clergymen, and ſeverall things of this nature, […]”

6. Of information, a statement, etc.: not pertinent to a matter; irrelevant, and bringing the court into disrepute.

   “Scandal may be taken advantage of at any time, impertinence not; if reported ſcandalous, it muſt be impertinent of courſe; but it may be impertinent vvithout being ſcandalous. […] [N]othing pertinent to the cauſe can be ſaid to be ſcandalous.”

   “A party who makes an affidavit to oppose a motion is only authorized to state the facts; and it is scandalous and impertinent to draw inferences or state arguments in the affidavit, reflecting on the character or impeaching the motives of the adverse party or his solicitor. Ibid. [Powell v. Kane, 5 Paige, 265.]”

7. Causing offence or trouble.

   “[M]any Lavvs, in the change of ignorant and obſcure Ages, may be found both ſcandalous, and full of greevance to their Poſterity that made them, […]”

8. Of a disease or symptom: putrid, rotting.

   “Theſe are the Ulcers vvhich render fiſtulæ ani [anal fistulas] ſcandalous. If the matter paſſeth in perineo, for the moſt part it perforates the Urethra, ſometime like a Flute, and the Urine cometh thereout, othertimes it corrupteth vvithin, and diſchargeth the putrefaction into the pelvis.”