SCOUNDREL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does scoundrel mean? 

• SCOUNDREL (noun)
  The noun SCOUNDREL has 1 sense:

1. a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately

  Familiarity information: SCOUNDREL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCOUNDREL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

scoundrel; villain

Hypernyms ("scoundrel" is a kind of...):

persona non grata; unwelcome person (a person who for some reason is not wanted or welcome)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "scoundrel"):

blackguard; bounder; cad; dog; heel; hound (someone who is morally reprehensible)

gallows bird (a person who deserves to be hanged)

knave; rapscallion; rascal; rogue; scalawag; scallywag; varlet (a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel)

villainess (a woman villain)

Derivation:

scoundrelly (lacking principles or scruples)

 Context examples 

“If there is a scoundrel on this earth,” said Mr. Micawber, suddenly breaking out again with the utmost vehemence, “with whom I have already talked too much, that scoundrel's name is—HEEP!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But he is a dirty scoundrel.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"You know I am a scoundrel, Jane?" ere long he inquired wistfully—wondering, I suppose, at my continued silence and tameness, the result rather of weakness than of will.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Her arm was pressed again, as he added, in a more broken and subdued accent, “The feelings of the warmest friendship—Indignation—Abominable scoundrel!”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

‘The impudent scoundrel!’ I cried. ‘I’ve never so much as seen him in my life.’

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Such a scoundrel of a fellow! such a deceitful dog!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The sums are the scoundrel's share, and where he feared an ambiguity, you see he added something clearer.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The scoundrel Buonaparte wishes to humble us.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"I thought it was great," he said hesitatingly, "the little I read. I had no idea he was such a—a scoundrel. I guess that crops out in his other books."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

No, I don’t know, replied the boy, but someone was standing by the sounding hole on the other side of the steps, and as he would neither give an answer nor go away, I took him for a scoundrel, and threw him downstairs.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)