Scandal

Origin

Middle English, from Late Latin scandalum stumbling block, offense, from Greek skandalon trap, stumbling block, offense; akin to Latin scandere to climb

• 13th Century

Definitions

• 1a : discredit brought upon religion by unseemly conduct in a religious person

b : conduct that causes or encourages a lapse of faith or of religious obedience in another

• 2: loss of or damage to reputation caused by actual or apparent violation of morality or propriety : disgrace
• 3a : a circumstance or action that offends propriety or established moral conceptions or disgraces those associated with it

b : a person whose conduct offends propriety or morality <a scandal to the profession>

• 4: malicious or defamatory gossip
• 5: indignation, chagrin, or bewilderment brought about by a flagrant violation of morality, propriety, or religious opinion

Description

A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages (or tries to damage) the reputation of an institution, individual or creed. A scandal may be based on true or false allegations or a mixture of both.

From the Greek σκάνδαλον (skandalon), a trap or stumbling-block, the metaphor is that wrong conduct can impede or "trip" people's trust or faith.

Some scandals are broken by whistleblowers who reveal wrongdoing within organizations or groups, such as Deep Throat (William Mark Felt) during the 1970s Watergate scandal. Sometimes an attempt to cover up a possible scandal ignites a greater scandal when the cover-up fails.[1]