SCANDAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does scandal mean? 

• SCANDAL (noun)
  The noun SCANDAL has 2 senses:

1. disgraceful gossip about the private lives of other people

2. a disgraceful event

  Familiarity information: SCANDAL used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCANDAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Disgraceful gossip about the private lives of other people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

dirt; malicious gossip; scandal

Hypernyms ("scandal" is a kind of...):

comment; gossip; scuttlebutt (a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people)

Derivation:

scandalise; scandalize (strike with disgust or revulsion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A disgraceful event

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

outrage; scandal

Hypernyms ("scandal" is a kind of...):

trouble (an event causing distress or pain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "scandal"):

skeleton; skeleton in the closet; skeleton in the cupboard (a scandal that is kept secret)

Instance hyponyms:

Teapot Dome; Teapot Dome scandal (a government scandal involving a former United States Navy oil reserve in Wyoming that was secretly leased to a private oil company in 1921; became symbolic of the scandals of the Harding administration)

Watergate; Watergate scandal (a political scandal involving abuse of power and bribery and obstruction of justice; led to the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974)

Derivation:

scandalise; scandalize (strike with disgust or revulsion)

scandalous (giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputation)

 Context examples 

You said that you wished to see me here to avoid scandal.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The day after Ruth's visit, he received a check for three dollars from a New York scandal weekly in payment for three of his triolets.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He was nearly expelled over a card scandal in his first year.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was a sort of scandal in faculty circles some two or three years ago.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“It was this horrible scandal,” said he.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Nothing but scandals from one end of the week to the other.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The man of God and the man of the sword might without scandal be united in the same individual.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We told the man we could and would make such a scandal out of this as should make his name stink from one end of London to the other.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You will see dramatic current events too, as this alignment will affect scandals in governments.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

How could I tell all this without revealing the family scandal which he was so anxious to conceal?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)