scandalous

From Medieval Latin scandalosus, via French scandaleuse; as if scandal + -ous.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈskændələs/

scandalous (comparative more scandalous, superlative most scandalous)

1. wrong, immoral, causing a scandal
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: Printed by J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, lines 415–420, page 83:

     Maſters commands come with a power reſiſtleſs / To ſuch as owe them abſolute ſubjection; / And for a life who will not change his purpoſe? / (So mutable are all the ways of men) / Yet this be ſure, in nothing to comply / Scandalous or forbidden in our Law.

   • 1884, Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

     The thing made a big stir in the town, too, and a good many come out flatfooted and said it was scandalous to separate the mother and the children that way.

2. malicious, defamatory.
   • 1592, Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedie

     These be the scandalous reports of such / As loves not me, and hate my lord too much.

   • 1887, Marie Corelli, Thelma

     I always disregard gossip--it is generally scandalous, and seldom true.

   • 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     The closest Believe gets to scandalous is on the deluxe-edition bonus track “Maria,” a response song to the woman who accused Bieber of fathering her child in 2011.

3. Outrageous; exceeding reasonable limits.
   • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 131:

     '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.'

• scandalously
• scandalousness