scoundrel

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈskaʊndrəl/ UK /ˈskaʊndrəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a dishonest or unprincipled person; a villain

The landlord was a scoundrel who cheated his tenants at every turn.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a dishonest or unprincipled... villain rogue rascal knave blackguard miscreant cad

Opposites

hero saint gentleman

Word family

Derived forms scoundrellyscoundrelism

Etymology

Of uncertain origin, recorded from the late 16th century; perhaps connected to Middle English scomfit or to a dialectal word meaning 'to run off, hide', but no derivation is established.

Topics

People & Society

External links

# scoundrel

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈskaʊndrəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈskaʊndrəl/

## Meanings
1. a dishonest or unprincipled person; a villain

## Examples
- The landlord was a scoundrel who cheated his tenants at every turn.

## Synonyms
- villain
- rogue
- rascal
- knave
- blackguard
- miscreant
- cad

## Antonyms
- hero
- saint
- gentleman

## Derived Forms
- scoundrelly
- scoundrelism

## Etymology
Of uncertain origin, recorded from the late 16th century; perhaps connected to Middle English scomfit or to a dialectal word meaning 'to run off, hide', but no derivation is established.

## AI Etymology
Scoundrel is of uncertain origin, recorded from the late 16th century; perhaps connected to Middle English scomfit or to a dialectal word meaning 'to run off, hide', but no derivation is established. Older glosses in the chain include "to run off, hide", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, scoundrel is best read as uncertain formation, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "a dishonest or unprincipled person; a villain". English derivatives include scoundrelly and scoundrelism. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- People & Society

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