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Scandal

Definition: Scandal

Scandal

Noun

1. Disgraceful gossip about the private lives of other people.

2. A disgraceful event.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "scandal" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

 

Specialty Definition: Scandal

DomainDefinition

Dream Interpretation

To dream that you are an object of scandal, denotes that you are not particular to select good and true companions, but rather enjoy having fast men and women contribute to your pleasure. Trade and business of any character will suffer dulness after this dream.
For a young woman to dream that she discussed a scandal, foretells that she will confer favors, which should be sacred, to some one who will deceive her into believing that he is honorably inclined. Marriage rarely follows swiftly after dreaming of scandal. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted ....

Literature

Scandal means properly a pitfall or snare laid for an enemy; hence a stumbling-block, and morally an aspersion. (Greek, skandalon.)
"We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a [scandal]."- 1 Cor. i. 23.
The Hill of scandal So Milton calls the Mount of Olives, because King Solomon built thereon "an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab; and for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon" (1 Kings xi. 7). Source: Brewer's Dictionary.

Multilingual Slang

Hungarian (balhe'). (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Lewinsky scandal

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

While working as an intern at the White House, Monica Lewinsky had a short-term sexual relationship with President Bill Clinton. The news of this affair, and the resulting investigation and impeachment, became known as the Monica Lewinsky scandal or Monicagate.

Monica Lewinsky was a young graduate from from Lewis and Clark College. In 1995 she was hired to work as an intern at the White House during Clinton's first term. She had long admired President Clinton, and fantasized about him romatically. After much flirting, the two became engaged sexually, and secretly performed sexual acts on each other in closed quarters of the White House.

As Lewinsky's relationship with the President became more distant, Lewinsky confided details of her feelings and the President's behavior to her presumed friend Linda Tripp. Unbeknownst to Lewinsky, Tripp was illegally recording their telephone conversations with the intent to aid Republican persecution of the Democrat President, and eventually delivered the tapes to Kenneth Starr, Independent Counsel appointed by congress to investigate the President on various other matters.

News of the scandal first broke on January 17, 1998 on the Drudge Report website. Five days later on January 26, a visibly flustered President Clinton addressed the public in a White House press conference:

"Now, I have to go back to work on my State of the Union speech. And I worked on it until pretty late last night. But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time -- never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people."

On May 22, 1998 a federal judge ruled that United States Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal.

Lewinsky received transactional immunity on July 28, 1998 in exchange for her grand jury testimony concerning her relationship with Clinton. Under oath she admitted that her relationship with Clinton involved oral sex, including oral-anal contact, as documented in the Starr report, which eventually led to President Clinton's impeachment, on the basis of perjury and obstruction of justice regarding the affair.

Clinton then admitted in taped testimony on August 17, 1998 that he had an "improper physical relationship" with Lewinsky. On the same day he admitted before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.

Allegations of Perjury

Clinton had provided misleading and probably perjurious testimony about the relationship to a civil court, initiated for an unrelated investigation (see also Paula Jones) into sexual misconduct. Among other things, he had denied having had sex with Lewinsky, but in light of incontrovertible evidence (the "blue dress"), he amended his story, saying that he had had oral sex with Lewinsky, but this had not constituted "sexual intercourse", which was what he had been denying in previous testimony. This distinction, that "oral sex" does not constitute "sex" or "sexual relations", though confusing and unacceptable to some, was thereafter substantiated by polls as being common to the majority of Americans (c.f. Britney Spears public avowal of Virginity).

The issue was greatly confused by an unusual definition for sexual contact that was ordered during the initial questioning which led to the perjury allegations. "Sexual contact"

{was defined as contact where the man touches the woman for her gratification; no action by the woman for the man's gratification was considered sexual contact.}

This statement is patently false as can be seen in the photocopy of the Definition used in the Clinton Deposition located at this site - http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/03/13/jones.v.clinton.docs/clinton/sexual.relations.jpg

The definition provided by the author of this piece shows a clear bias and any reader should take the opinion provided as just that, an opinion and not information.

The actual definition used was "Definition of Sexual Relations: For the purposes of this deposition, a person engages in "sexual relations" when the person knowingly engages in or causes " 1) contact with the genitalia, arms, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person. "Contact" means intentional touching, either directly or through clothing"

Legal opinion is divided as to whether President Clinton's denials--though perhaps ungallant--were legal perjury, though he certainly violated the requirement to be clear about what he was saying. However, legal opinion has been almost unanimous that a criminal prosecution on charges of perjury would almost certainly fail.

Impeachment

Under the United States Constitution, the House of Representatives issues Articles of Impeachment, which the Senate must then consider as a panel of judges. Impeachment is a means of quickly removing dangerously criminal officials from high office. The standard for dangerously criminal was that they had committed "high crimes or misdemeanors". A "high" crime in eighteenth century parlance is a crime against the sovereign, which in United States law is taken to mean against the United States as a whole. Examples of "high" crimes include attempting to undermine United States power for political gain, staging a military coup, accepting bribes, plundering the treasury, fixing elections, and making policy decisions to the detriment of the United States for the benefit of cronies.

Republicans argued that by committing perjury while in the office of President, Bill Clinton taught the youth of the nation disrespect for the nation's laws, which would in time lead to the complete downfall of the United States legal system and government: thus, simple perjury was an impeachable high crime.

As part of the impeachment inquiry, House Judiciary Committee chairman Henry Hyde sent a list of 81 questions to Clinton on November 5, 1998. Formal impeachment hearings began on November 19. After receiving Clinton's answers, the Judiciary Committee commended four articles of impeachment to the full House, and on December 19, the House of Representatives forwarded two of the four articles of impeachment (perjury and obstruction of justice) to the Senate. This made Clinton the first elected president in U.S. history to be impeached. The only previous impeachment was the unelected President Andrew Johnson (who had succeeded the assassinated Abraham Lincoln) in 1868. President Richard Nixon had resigned under the threat of impeachment in 1974.

The charges had been rushed through the House in order to take advantage of the votes of so-called "lame-duck" Republican congressmen, and did not reflect the recommendations of the Starr Report. Success in the Senate was not anticipated, due to presumed partisans voting if for no other reasons, and the charges were reorganized apparently to maximize the opportunities for sensationalism and the humiliation of the President: for example the new charges allowed the Prosecution in the senate impeachment proceedings to read into the record lurid details from the Lewinsky testimony that would have been irrelevant to the charges recommended in the Starr report.

The senate trial began on January 7, 1999. The prosecution relied on two basic forms of argument: "The President must have been thinking about topic X at the time that he testifies that he was thinking about topic Y", thus committing perjury--an allegation that cannot be proven; and simply lying about the order and facts of events. While the latter charge is serious, there are numerous documented examples, including:

In each case (and many others) the false evidence or ordering had been present in the initial written offerings of the prosecutors and the corrections had been listed in the defense's response. All these charges and arguments had been added by the House Judiciary Committee and were not present in the Starr Report. Nevertheless the prosecutors went ahead with the prima facie false accusations, presumably for reasons unrelated to the legal prosecution of the impeachment.

On Friday, February 12, 1999, the senate rejected both of the articles of impeachment. The perjury charges were rejected 55-45, and on the obstruction of justice charges the vote was 50-50 (with Vice President Al Gore casting the tiebreaking "no" vote. A two-thirds majority (67) would have been required for conviction. The vote fell with few exceptions along party lines.

Many of the House Republicans prominent in the prosecution of the impeachment lost their seats in the following election; it is argued by some that this was an expression of voter distaste for the "embarrassing circus" of the impeachment.

The perjury allegations provoked the Arkansas Supreme Court to suspend Clinton's law license in April, 2000. Clinton agreed to the 5 year suspension and to pay a $25,000 fine on January 19, 2001. The following October, the US Supreme Court once again suspended Clinton's law license and gave him 40 days to convince them that he should not be disbarred permanently.

Public Opinion

In early January of 1998 the news broke in various media outlets (see Drudge Report) that the President had had an affair. On January 26, 1998 on American television, Clinton denied he had "sexual relations" with Lewinsky, but did not admit to the actual nature of their relationship.

The components of the scandal, including:

coupled with increasingly hostile media coverage, opportunistic persecution of a perceived vulnerable Democrat by the Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, and general partisan feeling led to spirited and emotional public debate. Some saw President as dishonest, but the exposure of the scandal and subsequent humiliation of his family as a greater crime; some argued that the perjury allegations were insignificant but the public disavowal a disgrace; some hated Lewinsky for seducing the President, some hated the President for being seduced, and some hated Linda Tripp the most for betraying friendship.

The affair, and its sordid details, led to a period of cultural celebrity for Lewinsky; as an unlikely sex symbol, and as a younger-generation nexus of a political storm that was both lighthearted, and extremely serious at the same time. Some mild use of the name "Lewinsky" still exists as a term for oral sex, though Lewinsky references and jokes have long cooled in the public interest.

International affairs

Some allege that Operation Desert Fox--which was launched in December of 1998 and actually delayed some of the House of Representative votes relating to the impeachment process--as well as Operation Allied Force--which commenced operations on March 17, 1999 but which had been on the table since the Racak incident on January 14, 1999--were embarked upon primarily to shore up the authority and stature of the President in the face of the domestic challenges. Populations tend to increase their support for leaders in times of war.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Lewinsky scandal."

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Mutual fund scandal (2003)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The mutual fund scandal of 2003 was the result of the discovery of both illegal and unethical trading practices on the part of certain hedge fund and mutual fund companies.

On September 3, 2003, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced the issuance of a complaint against New Jersey hedge fund company Canary Capital Partners LLC, charging that they had engaged in "late trading" in collusion with Bank of America's Nations Funds. Bank of America is charged with permitting Canary to purchase mutual fund shares, after the markets had closed, at the closing price for that day.

Late trading is illegal under New York's Martin Act and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations due to the unfair advantage the late trader gains over other traders. In the United States, mutual fund prices are set once daily at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Late trading occurs when traders are allowed to purchase fund shares after 4:00 p.m. at that day's closing price. Under law, all mutual fund trades after 4:00 p.m. must be executed at the following day's closing price.

Canary Capital settled the complaint for US$40 million, while neither admitting nor denying guilt in the matter. Bank of America stated that it would compensate its mutual fund shareholders for losses incurred by way of the illegal transactions.

Spitzer also charged that major mutual fund groups Janus, Bank One, and Strong had facilitated "market timing" trading for favored clients. Allowing some clients to market time, while denying that ability to others, is considered unethical. It tends to increase the cost of administering a mutual fund, a cost borne by the rank-and-file fund investors who cannot market time. The firms in question had claimed in their prospectuses that they prohibited market timing. The practice tends to advantage the company's bottom-line and that of its share-holders at the expense of its fund investors. One estimate saw buy-and-hold mutual fund investors loosing US$5 billion per year because of market timing trading. Spitzer's complaint alleged that Canary Capital Partners had engaged in market timing transactions with 30 mutual fund companies.

The SEC is charged with the regulation of the mutual fund industry in the United States. Following the announcement of Spitzer's complaint, the SEC launched its own investigation of the matter which revealed the practice of front-running. The SEC claimed that certain mutual fund companies alerted favored customers or partners when one or more of a company's fund planned to buy or sell a large stock position. The partner was then in a position to trade shares of the stock in advance of the fund's trading. Since mutual funds tend to hold large positions in specific stocks, any large selling or buying by the fund often impacts the value of the stock, from which the partner could stand to benefit. According to the SEC, the practice of front-running may constitute insider trading.

By early November, investigations led to the resignation of the chairmen of Strong Mutual Funds and Putnam Investments, both major mutual fund companies. In the case of Strong, the chairman himself was implicated in market-timing trading involving his company's funds.

External links

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Scandal

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A scandal involves widely publicised allegations of wrong-doing, disgrace or moral outrage. A scandal may be based on reality, or the product of false allegations.

Some scandals are broken by a whistle-blower revealing wrongdoing within an organization or a group. Falsely alleged scandals can lead to a witch-hunt against the innocent.

Often, an attempt to cover-up a scandal ignites a greater scandal when the cover-up fails.

Examples of actual or alleged scandals:

Political scandals by country:

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Spiegel scandal

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Spiegel scandal of 1962 (in German, Spiegel-Affäre) was one of the major political scandals in Germany in the era after the second world war.

Essentially, it boiled down to a conflict between Franz Josef Strauß, then Federal Minister of Defense, and Rudolf Augstein, owner and editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel magazine, Germany's leading weekly political magazine. The affair would cost Strauß his office and put the young German democracy to a first major test.

The two had clashed already a year earlier, when, in 1961, Spiegel raised accusations of bribery in favor of the FIBAG construction company, who had received a contract for building military facilities. However, a parliamentary enquiry then found no evidence against Strauß.

Der Spiegel No. 41/1962, which triggered the scandal
The quarrel then escalated when Der Spiegel, in its October 8, 1962 issue, published an article called "Bedingt abwehrbereit" ("Conditionally prepared for defense") about a NATO manoeuver called "Fallex 62", which uncovered the sorry state of the Bundeswehr (Germany's army) facing the communist threat from the east at the time.

The magazine was accused of treason. At 9 p.m. on October 26, 1962, the magazine's offices in Hamburg were seized and (together with the houses of several journalists) searched by 36 policemen, and thousands of documents were confiscated. The offices would remain shut down for weeks. Augstein and the then-editors-in-chief Claus Jacobi and Johannes Engel were arrested. The author of the article, Conrad Ahlers, who was vacationing in Spain, was seized in his hotel during the night. Augstein would be jailed for 103 days.

While Bundeskanzler Konrad Adenauer was informed of Strauß' actions, the Minister of Justice, belonging to the smaller coalition party FDP, was deliberately left out of all decisions. The injustice of the arrest caused riots and protest through all of Germany. Strauß initially denied all involvement even before the Bundestag, and Adenauer, in another speech, famously complained about an "abyss of state treason" ("Abgrund von Landesverrat").

However, Strauß was finally forced to admit that he had himself phoned the German military attaché in Madrid and urged him to arrest Ahlers. This was clearly illegal – as Minister of the Interior Hermann Höcherl famously paraphrased, "etwas außerhalb der Legalität" ("slightly beyond legality"). Since Strauß had thus lied to the parliament, on November 19, the five FDP ministers of the cabinet resigned, demanding that Strauß and Höcherl be fired. This put Adenauer himself at risk, who found himself publicly accused of backing the put-down of a critical press with the resources of the state.

On November 26, the police ended its occupation of the Spiegel offices, while the Augstein, Ahlers and three others remained under arrest – Augstein until February 7, 1963. In December 1962 Adenauer formed a new cabinet without Strauß.

On May 13, 1965 the Bundesgerichtshof (highest German court of appeals) refused to open trial against Augstein and Ahlers, ruling that during the affair Strauß had violated the boundaries and committed Freiheitsberaubung (deprivation of personal freedom); however, because of his belief of acting lawfully (Verbotsirrtum), he was exempt from punishment. The case also came before the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, which issued a groundbreaking ruling that laid down the basics of the freedom of the press for decades to come.

The scandal temporarily halted Strauß' political career and was remembered by many when Strauß ran for Bundeskanzler in 1980, clearly losing against his SPD opponent (and incumbent) Helmut Schmidt. However, it is mostly remembered for altering the political culture of post-war Germany and – with the first mass demonstrations and public protests – being a turning point from the old Obrigkeitsstaat to a modern democracy.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Spiegel scandal."

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Synonyms: Scandal

Synonyms: dirt (n), malicious gossip (n), outrage (n). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Scandal

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Accusation

Gravamen of a charge, head and front of one's offending, argumentum ad hominem; scandal; (detraction); scandalum magnatum.

Detraction

Noun: detraction, disparagement, depreciation, vilification, obloquy, scurrility, scandal, defamation, aspersion, traducement, slander, calumny, obtrectation, evil-speaking, backbiting, scandalum magnatum.

Disrepute

Dishonor, disgrace; shame, humiliation; scandal, baseness, vileness; turpitude; (improbity); infamy.

News

Report, rumor, hearsay, on dit, flying rumor, news stirring, cry, buzz, bruit, fame; talk, oui dire, scandal, eavesdropping; town tattle, table talk; canard, topic of the day, idea afloat.

Vice

Immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals; enphagy, dophagy, exophagy; want of principle, want of ballast; obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity, depravity, pollution; hardness of heart; brutality; (malevolence); corruption; (debasement); knavery; (improbity); profligacy; flagrancy, atrocity; cannibalism; lesbianism, Sadism.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Scandal

English words defined with "scandal": breath, brightdarken, discredit, disreputefatigueHarding, hintintimationlightmuckraker, muckraking, mudslingerNixonPresident Harding, President Nixon, promisingretire, Richard M. Nixon, Richard Milhous Nixon, Richard NixonserveWarren Gamaliel Harding, Warren Harding, Watergate, Watergate scandal. (references)
Specialty definitions using "scandal": Accuse, Adultery, Amorous, AssBlown upon, Broken Feather, BuzzardCab, CALUMNUS, CAT LAP, CHATTER BROTHDentistEpaulet, ExcommunicationFeet, FogGarbage, Graceless FlorinHusband, HydrophobiaJudgment DayMiceNaked, NESLPRATTLE BROTH, PregnancyRodolpho, RubberSCANDAL BROTH, SCANDAL PROOF, Skate, SlippersTITTLE-TATTLE, Toad, TongueUniformVomitWhirlwindZANZIBARI. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Scandal" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses.

Romanian (affray, breach, breeze, flare up, fray, fuss, hubbub, noise, row, rumpus, scandal, scene, shame, shindy).

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Modern Usage: Scandal

DomainUsage

Screenplays

It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison (It's a Wonderful Life; writing credit: Philip Van Doren Stern; Frances Goodrich)

Oh, Daddy doesn't mind a little scandal. He's a senator (Strangers on a Train; writing credit: Raymond Chandler; Whitfield Cook)

A sex scandal! Take a picture of him in bed with a prositute (Nine to Five; writing credit: Colin Higgins)

Because in Europe I will make such a scandal as you never heard (The Private Life of Henry VIII; writing credit: Lajos Biró; Arthur Wimperis)

It's straight tabloid! You had a minute and a half of that lady riding a bike naked in Central Park; on the other hand, you had less than a minute of hard national and international news! It was all sex, scandal, brutal crime, sports, children with incurable diseases, and lost puppies (Network; writing credit: Paddy Chayefsky)

Lyrics

Now here's my scandal (Baby Got Back; performing artist: SIR MIX-A-LOT)

Movie/TV Titles

The Scandal That Rocked Britain (1963)

A Breath of Scandal (1960)

Panhandle Scandal (1959)

Scandal Incorporated (1956)

Big Town Scandal (1948)

Song Titles

The Warrior (performing artist: Scandal)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Scandal

DomainTitle

Books

  • A Matter of Scandal (With This Ring) (reference)

  • Power Quotes: 4,000 Trenchant Soundbites on Leadership & Liberty, Treason & Triumph, Sacrifice & Scandal, Risk & Rebellion, Weakness & War, and other (reference)

  • When Women Were Priests: Women's Leadership in the Early Church and the Scandal of Their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Theater & Movies

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Scandal

Illustrations:
Scandal

More pictures...

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Photo Album: Scandal

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

"Oil scandal" giant in oil field holding man "Senate"] / Conacher. Credit: Library of Congress.

At leLance to tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Famous for "silicosis" scandal. Credit: Library of Congress.

Testimony in the great Beecher-Tilton scandal case illustrated / Commercial Lith. Co. ; des. & drawn by James E. Cook. Credit: Library of Congress.

Miss Jane Coombs, "School for scandal". Credit: Library of Congress.

The secrecy scandal. Credit: Library of Congress.

  

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Scandal

AuthorQuotation

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Now the Poet cannot die, nor leave his music as of old, but round him ere he scarce be cold begins the scandal and the cry.

George Farquhar

There's no scandal like rags, nor any crime so shameful as poverty.

Henry Fielding

Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.

Josh Billings

Old maids sweeten their tea with scandal.

Oscar Wilde

Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.
One should never make one's debut with a scandal. One should reserve that to give an interest to one's old age.

Shelby Foote

Longevity conquers scandal every time.

Thomas Fuller

A lie has no leg, but a scandal has wings.

William Wycherley

Your women of honor, as you call em, are only chary of their reputations, not their persons; and 'Tis scandal that they would avoid, not men.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: Scandal

TitleAuthorQuote

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

A scandal to the convent, but a joyful thing for the school

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Scandal

SubjectTopicQuote

Business

The scandal particularly affected KFC because the contaminated animals were chickens. (references)

Tricon's efforts to launch KFC in Belgium have been setback by the recent dioxin scandal. (references)

In spite of adverse trends in world prices for metals and the loss of credibility by the junior mining companies in the aftermath of the Bre-X scandal, the mining industry in Argentina continues to show a healthy disposition towards growth. (references)

Civil Liberties

Honduras

In June Channel 13 news reporter Jorge Lopez was dismissed, allegedly for reporting on a bank scandal in the print media. (references)

Guinea

In December 1999, two journalists who published an article about a financial scandal involving two highly placed ministers were arrested under these laws; they were released within 6 months. (references)

Paraguay

In October the Supreme Court upheld an appellate decision striking the defamation conviction of reporter Pedro Benitez Aldama for his story on a real estate corruption scandal involving government employees. (references)

Economic History

Italy

Major political parties, beset by scandal and loss of voter confidence, underwent far-reaching changes. (references)

Brazil

In 1992, a major corruption scandal led to the impeachment and ultimate resignation of President Collor. (references)

Kyrgyzstan

In 1993, allegations of corruption against Akayev's closest political associates blossomed into a major scandal. (references)

Human Rights

Cameroon

Local human rights groups noted that local authorities, even the special antigang units, paid more attention to due process than in previous years; they believe that the paramilitary forces have received strict instructions to restrain their activities in an attempt to avoid another scandal that would embarrass the Government. (references)

Political Economy

Argentina

An alleged bribery scandal in the Senate led to the resignation of Vice President Alvarez in October 2000 in apparent protest over the administration's weak response to the crisis. (references)

Colombia

A major corruption scandal in Congress which erupted in April 2000 led to the resignation of most of the leadership of the House of Representatives, and their replacement by individuals not committed to cooperation with Pastrana. (references)

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

EXCOMMUNICATION, n. This "excommunication" is a word In speech ecclesiastical oft heard, And means the damning, with bell, book and candle, Some sinner whose opinions are a scandal -- A rite permitting Satan to enslave him Forever, and forbidding Christ to save him. Gat Huckle

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Spoken Usage: Scandal

SpeakerPhrase(s)

Dennis Miller

In the Catholic priest sex scandal, almost as shocking as the acts themselves was the way the local dioceses refused to take responsibility for their clergymen, instead shuffling them more frantically than a croupier with obsessive compulsive disorder.

Mark Shields

Bob, contrary to the defensiveness of some church leaders, Archbishop Flynn was crystal clear and emphatic. He praised the media for bringing this scandal, this crisis in the Church to public light and forcing the Church to act upon it.

Rush Limbaugh

During the S&L scandal, many accounting firms got hit hard when they were the only solvent parties left to sue after the S&Ls went bankrupt.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Speeches: Scandal

SpeakerTermPhrase(s)

John F. Kennedy

1961-1963Without new, realistic measures, it will someday swamp our farmers and our taxpayers in a national scandal or a farm depression.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Scandal

"Scandal" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.50% of the time. "Scandal" is used about 1,404 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)99.5%1,3975,738
Noun (proper)0.28%4175,879
Noun (common)0.21%3202,518
                    Total100.00%1,404N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Scandal

Expressions using "scandal": cause a scandal create a scandal fond of scandal have a scandal public scandal scandal monger scandal mongering scandal sheet sex scandal spread scandal talk scandal Watergate scandal. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "scandal": scandal-a-week, scandal-battered, scandal-bearer, scandal-bruised, scandal-free, scandal-grubber, scandal-hit, scandal-monger, scandal-mongering, scandal-mongers, scandal-provoking, scandal-ravaged, scandal-ridden, scandal-rocked, scandal-sheet, scandal-sheets, scandal-strewn, scandal-tainted.

Ending with "scandal": mini-scandal, sex-scandal, s-scandal.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Scandal

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

watergate scandal

341

sex scandal

34

scandal

227

blair jayson scandal

33

enron scandal

155

white house scandal

28

worldcom scandal

100

church scandal

27

clinton scandal

98

rampart scandal

26

martha stewart scandal

93

r kelly sex scandal

25

iran contra scandal

92

catholic church scandal

24

melayu scandal

76

2002 miss scandal universe

22

corporate scandal

71

picture scandal watergate

21

new scandal times york

69

1919 black scandal sox

20

teapot dome scandal

61

bakker figure jim scandal

20

scandal whitewater

56

american idol scandal

19

black scandal sox

52

savings and loan scandal

19

celebrity scandal

50

bakker jim scandal

18

r kelly scandal

48

political scandal

18

accounting scandal

46

presidential scandal

17

dumaguete scandal

45

lewinsky monica scandal

15

school for scandal

43

day scandal spa

14

hollywood scandal

36

scandal tyco

14

bill clinton scandal

34

nixon scandal watergate

14
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Scandal

Language Translations for "scandal"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Afrikaans

  

skandaal (commotion), aanstoot (commotion, indignation, jog, nudge, offence), beskindering (backbiting, slander), agterklap (backbiting, slander). (various references)

   

Albanian

  

skandal (furore, kick up, muss), veprim i turpshëm, përfolje, gojose. (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏فضيحة (disgrace, furor, nasty business, outrage, stink), ‏نميمة (dirt, gossip, talebearing, talk, tattle), ‏قيل وقال (chitchat, talk, tittle tattle), ‏قذف (accuse of, aspersion, calumniate, cast, casting, charge with, defamation, defame, discharge, disgorge, ejaculation, eject, ejectment, emit, expel, extrude, extrusion, fling, libel, malediction, malign, mud, mudslinging, obloquy, pelt, pelt with, pitch, projection, puke, row, slander, speak evil of, strike with, striking, throw, throw out, throwing, toss, vilify, vituperate, vomit), ‏غيبة, ‏تشهير (aspersion, libel, mud, mudslinging, slander), ‏عمل مخز, ‏عار (bare, black eye, denuded, discredit, disgrace, dishonor, dishonour, humiliation, ignominy, mortification, naked, nude, obloquy, outrage, reflection, reflexion, reproach, shame, stark naked, starkers, taint, unclad, uncovered), ‏إشانة سمعة, ‏إشاعات (gossip, scuttle), ‏أكاذيب. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

срам (degradation, dishonor, dishonour, disparagement, ignominy, opprobrium, reproach, shame), скандал (affair, blowup, fracas, kick up, row, scene), сплетни, клюки (chitchat, comment, gup, talk, tattle, tittle tattle), клевета (aspersion, backbite, calumny, defamation, libel, slander, slur, smear), злословене (vilification, vituperation), позорна постъпка, позор (attaint, contumely, degradation, disgrace, dishonor, dishonour, disparagement, ignominy, infamy, obloquy, odium, opprobrium, reproach, shame, stigma). (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

醜聞 , 醜事 , 丑闻. (various references)

   

Czech

  

skandál (disgrace), pomluvy (dirt, gossip), ostuda (discredit, disgrace, ignominy, reproach, shame, shocker), aféra (affair). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

laster (backbiting, slander), eerroof (backbiting, slander), achterklap (backbiting, slander). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

skandalo (commotion), kalumnio (backbiting, slander), indigno (offence). (various references)

   

Faeroese

  

útspilling (backbiting, slander). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

ننگ (Dishonor(Ur), Infamy, Opprobrium, Reproach, Shame, Stain), تهمت زدن (Accuse, Mudslinger, Slander, Task), تهمت (Abusive, Defamation, Libel, Slur, Tax), افتضاح (Debacle, Eclat, Ignominy, Infamy), رسواءی 2 (Calumny, Disgrace, Dishonor(Ur), Disrepute, Ignominy, Infamy, Odium, Opprobrium, Reproach). (various references)

   

Finnish

  

skandaali, häväistysjuttu. (various references)

   

French

  

scandale. (various references)

   

Frisian

  

skandaal (commotion), rabberij (backbiting, slander), oanstjit (commotion, indignation), kwealaster (backbiting, slander). (various references)

   

German

  

Skandal (affray, commotion, fuss, outrage, to-do). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

σκάνδαλος (mischief maker), σκάνδαλο. (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

שערורי" (abomination, disgrace, flagrancy, outrage, stink, villainy), רכילות (chat, gossip, hearsay, libel, slander, tale taling, tattle), סק "ל. (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

botrány. (various references)

   

Icelandic

  

slúður (backbiting, slander). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

perbuatan memalukan, aib (dishonor, mortification). (various references)

   

Italian

  

scandalo (commotion, indignation, offence), maldicenza (backbiting, gossip, scandalmongering, slander). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

醜聞, 疑獄 (graft case), 不祥事 (deplorable event). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

ぎ"く (graft case), しゅうぶ" (autumn equinox), しゅうめい (succession to another's professional name), うきな (love affair, rumor), ふしょうじ (deplorable event), ふせいじけ" (bribery case, graft case), かいぶ" (ash, circular, palindrome, strange rumor), スキャンダル , じけ" (affair, case, event, incident, plot, trouble). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

물의. (various references)

   

Manx

  

scammylt (ignominy). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

andalscay.(various references)

   

Portuguese

  

escândalo (commotion, exposure, roughhouse). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

scandal (affray, breach, breeze, flare up, fray, fuss, hubbub, noise, row, rumpus, scene, shame, shindy), zarvã (ado, affray, altercation, bobbery, brawling, bustle, clutter, din, dispute, dust, fuss, hubbub, kerfuffle, noise, pother, racket, riot, row, rumpus, to-do, tumult, turmoil, uproar), vâlvã (agitation, boom, fame, page-one, sensation, surprise), ruşine (abashment, abomination, bashfulness, blot, confusion, contempt, disgrace, infamy, reproach, shame, shyness, stain), defãimare (calumny, defamation, disparagement, obloquy, slander), clevetire (defamation, gossip, slander, slandering), calomnie (backbiting, calumny, defamation, dirt, libel, obloquy, slander), bârfealã (backbiting, calumny, gossip, slander), afront public. (various references)

   

Russian 

  

скандал (affray, dust-up, fracas, rough house). (various references)

   

Scottish

  

sgainneal (a scandal). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

skandal (crying shame), bruka (disgrace, shame), afera (affair). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

escandálo (commotion, indignation, offence), escándalo (astonishment, commotion, disgrace, furor, furore, fuss, noise, notoriety, outrage, row, scene, sense of shock, uproar). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

skandal (commotion, outrage), anstöt (indignation, offence, offense, umbrage). (various references)

   

Turkish

  

skandal, yüz karası (black sheep, contempt, crime, ignominy, odium, offscourings, reproach), rezil (abject, contemptible, crud, dirty, dishonorable, dishonourable, disreputable, flagitious, flagrant, groveling, grovelling, ignoble, ignominious, infamous, low down, outrageous, raffish, rascal, scandalous, scoundrel, shameful, sinner, stinking, sweep, vile, villainous), rezalet (disgrace, ignominy, indignity, infamousness, obloquy, opprobrium, outrage, outrageousness, ridiculous, rotten, scene, shambles, villainy), karalama (blackening, calumny, defamation, doodle, libel, rough copy, scrawl, scribble, smirch), iftira (aspersion, calumniation, calumny, complaint, defamation, denigration, malediction, obloquy, slander, smear, vilification), dedikodu (dirt, gossip, grapevine, grapevine telegraph, hearsay, report, rumor, rumour, scuttlebutt, tale, talk, tattle, tittle tattle, tittletattle). (various references)

   

Turkmen 

  

юer (relative), nadaralyk, jenjel (debauche, noise), haяяarlyk, goh (noise). (various references)

   

Ukrainian

  

скандал (affray, fracas, kick up, roughhouse, shine, stink, wing-ding), ганебний факт, плітки (gossip, newsmongering, tattle, tittle tattle). (various references)

   

Vietnamese 

  

sự nói xấu (calumniation, decrial, depreciation, detraction, impeachment, traducement, vilification), việc xúc phạm đến công chúng, việc xấu xa, việc nhục nhã sự gièm pha, việc l m cho công chúng phẫn nộ. (various references)

   

Welsh

  

drygair (ill report). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Scandal

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Greek700 BCE-300 CE

skandalon. (various references)

Latin500 BCE-Modern

calumnia, flagitii, flagitium, nota, noti, notis, noto, notum, obprobria, obprobrii, obprobriis, obprobrio, obprobrium, scandalum. (various references)

Late Latin300-700

scandalum. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Scandal

Derivations

Words beginning with "scandal": scandaled, scandaling, scandalise, scandalised, scandalises, scandalising, scandalize, scandalized, scandalizes, scandalizing, scandalled, scandalling, scandalmonger, scandalmongering, scandalmongerings, scandalmongers, scandalous, scandalously, scandalousness, scandalousnesses, scandals. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Scandal" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: candal, Mcrandal, Sandall, scadal, scanadal, scanda, scandale, scandalum, scandel, Scandello, scandian, Scandig, scandle, Scandza, Scawdel, Seconal, skandal. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Scandal"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "scandal" (pronounced ska"ndul)
6-k a" n d u lcandle.
5-a" n d u lhandle, mishandle, sandal, vandal.
4-n d u lbindle, Brindle, bundle, dwindle, fondle, spindle, swindle, kindle, manhandle, panhandle, rekindle, Rundle, trundle, unbundle, Windle.
3-d u laddle, alkaloidal, antipodal, astraddle, backpedal, beadle, Bedell, befuddle, Boodle, bridal, bridle, caboodle, caudal, caudle, Coddle, colloidal, cradle, cuddle, dawdle, Doodle, feudal, fiddle, genocidal, girdle, homicidal, huddle, hurdle, idle, idol, idyll, straddle, suicidal, supermodel, intermodal, intertidal, ladle, medal, meddle, middle, minoxidil, modal, model, mollycoddle, muddle, needle, noodle, paddle, pedal, peddle, Piddle, poodle, puddle, pyramidal, remodel, rhizoidal, riddle, Ruddle, saddle, Seidel, sidle, tidal, toddle, twaddle, Tweedle, twiddle, Waddle, Wedel, widdle, yodel.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Scandal

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "a-a-c-d-l-n-s"

-1 letter: alands, canals, sandal.

-2 letters: aland, alans, anlas, canal, clads, clans, lands, nadas, nasal, salad, scald.

-3 letters: aals, alan, alas, anal, anas, ands, ansa, cads, cans, casa, clad, clan, dals, lacs, lads, land, nada, sand, scad, scan.

-4 letters: aal, aas, ads, ala, als, ana, and, cad, can, dal, lac, lad, las, sac, sad, sal.

-5 letters: aa.

 Words containing the letters "a-a-c-d-l-n-s"
 

+1 letter: candelas, scabland, scandals.

 

+2 letters: backlands, calendars, canalised, cardinals, coastland, dulcianas, flancards, handclasp, landscape, scablands, scandaled.

 

+3 letters: ascendable, baldachins, blacklands, calendulas, coastlands, dalliances, declarants, enchiladas, escalading, handclasps, landscaped, landscaper, landscapes, launchpads, scandaling, scandalise, scandalize, scandalled, scandalous.

 

+4 letters: accidentals, acetanilids, ascendantly, baldachinos, calamanders, calamondins, candelabras, cladocerans, dilatancies, landscapers, landscaping, landscapist, misbalanced, radicalness, relandscape, scandalised, scandalises, scandalized, scandalizes, scandalling, vandalistic.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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