Scatheful
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Causing harm or mischief; destructive, injurious. archaic
"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?"
Example
More examples"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?"
Etymology
From Middle English *scatheful (attested in derivative unnskaþefull), from Old English sceaþful (“hurtful”), equivalent to scathe + -ful. Cognate with Scots scathfull, scaithful (“harmful, hurtful, injurious, damaging”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.