Meanings
comparative more scatheful · superlative most scatheful · alternative scathful · alternative obsolete scadeful
- archaicCausing harm or mischief; destructive, injurious.
A bawbling Veſſell was he Captaine of, For ſhallow draught and bulke vnprizable, With which ſuch ſcathfull grapple did he make, With the moſt noble bottome of our Fleete, That very enuy, and the tongue of loſſe Cride fame and honor on him: What's the matter?
c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 272Synonyms: harmful
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveCausing harm or mischief; destructive, injurious.
Origin
- Middle English*scatheful
- Englishscatheful
From Middle English *scatheful (attested in derivative unnskaþefull) equivalent to scathe + -ful. Cognate with Scots scathfull, scaithful (“harmful, hurtful, injurious, damaging”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
scatheful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scatheful
“scatheful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scatheful. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scatheful,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scatheful.
Source: scatheful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.