Meanings
comparative more scurrilous · superlative most scurrilous
- Of a person, given to vulgar verbal abuse; foul-mouthed.
- Of language:
- Slanderous.
She said Johnson was “a better man than many of your detractors will ever understand”, adding that it was “so desperately sad that you let yourself down by making a scurrilous accusation against the leader of the opposition”.
2022 February 3, Heather Stewart, quoting Munira Mirza, “Boris Johnson’s policy chief quits over PM’s ‘scurrilous’ Savile remark”, in The Guardian
- Unscrupulous, evil.
We have had our address used by scurrilous crooks in the past to gain assets by fraud.
2 more examples
"Instead, another dangerous killer now roams our streets, thanks to that scurrilous, sinister super-heel!"
1967, Stan Lee, John Romita Sr, The Amazing Spider-Man #48"Some days, I try to imagine how scurrilous it would be for a left-leaning government in Canada to embark on such a costly political agenda for, say, a 10-year period, and still find itself unable to convince Canadians that the majority have benefited from this."
2013, Alex Himelfarb, Jordan Himelfarb, Tax Is Not a Four-Letter Word: A Different Take on Taxes in Canada
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveexpressing offensive reproach
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinscurrīlis“buffoon-like”
- Englishscurrilous
From Latin scurrīlis (“buffoon-like”) + -ous, from scurra (“a buffoon”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian мръсен, неприличен
- мръсен (mrăsen)foul-mouthed
- неприличен (nepriličen)foul-mouthed
- циничен (ciničen)coarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- вулгарен (vulgaren)coarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
Danish sjofel, grov
- sjofelfoul-mouthed
- grovfoul-mouthed
- grovcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- uanstændigcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- krænkendecoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
Dutch grofgebekt, vulgair
- grofgebektfoul-mouthed
- vulgaircoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- grofcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
Finnish rääväsuinen, ruokoton
- rääväsuinenfoul-mouthed
- ruokotonfoul-mouthed
- ruokotoncoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
German ordinär, flegelhaft
- ordinärfoul-mouthed
- flegelhaftfoul-mouthed
- pöbelhaftfoul-mouthed
- niederträchtigfoul-mouthed
- gemeinfoul-mouthed
- possenreißerischfoul-mouthed
- zotigfoul-mouthed
- vulgärcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- obszöncoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- ehrenrührigcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- verleumderischcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- unflätigcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
Latin scurrīlis
- scurrīliscoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
Māori ngutu momoho, ngutu momoho
- ngutu momohofoul-mouthed
- ngutu momohocoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
Norwegian Bokmål grov, nederdrektig
- grovfoul-mouthed
- nederdrektigfoul-mouthed
- plumpcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- vulgærcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- sladderaktigcoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
Portuguese obsceno, obsceno
- obscenofoul-mouthed
- obscenocoarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
Romanian injurios, obscen
- injuriosfoul-mouthed
- obscenfoul-mouthed
- ordinarfoul-mouthed
- abuzivfoul-mouthed
Russian оскорби́тельный, гру́бый
- оскорби́тельный (oskorbítelʹnyj)foul-mouthed
- гру́бый (grúbyj)foul-mouthed
- непристо́йный (nepristójnyj)coarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- гру́бый (grúbyj)coarse, vulgar, abusive, or slanderous
- ме́рзкий (mérzkij)gross, vulgar and evil
Cite this entry
scurrilous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scurrilous
“scurrilous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scurrilous. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scurrilous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scurrilous.
Source: scurrilous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.