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scathing

 - 5 dictionary results

scath⋅ing

  [skey-thing]
–adjective
1. bitterly severe, as a remark: a scathing review of the play.
2. harmful, injurious, or searing.
Use scathing in a Sentence
Origin:
1785–95; scathe + -ing 2

Related forms:
scath⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

scathe

  [skeyth] verb, scathed, scath⋅ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to attack with severe criticism.
2. to hurt, harm, or injure, as by scorching.
–noun
3. hurt, harm, or injury.
Origin:
bef. 1000; (n.) ME scath(e), scade, schath(e) < ON skathi damage, harm, c. OE sc(e)atha malefactor, injury (with which the ME forms with sch- might be identified); (v.) ME scath(e), skath(e) < ON skatha, c. OE sceathian

Related forms:
scatheless, adjective
scathe⋅less⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To scathing
scathe   (skāth)   
tr.v.   scathed, scath·ing, scathes

  1. To harm or injure, especially by fire.

  2. To criticize or denounce severely; excoriate.

n.  Harm or injury.

[Middle English skathen, from Old Norse skadha.]
scath·ing   (skā'thĭng)   
adj.  

  1. Bitterly denunciatory; harshly critical: "a scathing tract on the uselessness of war" (Pierre Brodin).

  2. Harmful or painful; injurious.

scath'ing·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

scathe  (v.)
c.1200, from O.N. skaða "to hurt, injure," from P.Gmc. *skath- (cf. O.E. sceaþian "to hurt, injure," O.Fris. skethia, M.Du. scaden, Du. schaden, O.H.G. scadon, Ger. schaden, Goth. scaþjan "to injure, damage"), from PIE base *sket- "to injure." Only cognate outside Gmc. seems to be in Gk. a-skethes "unharmed, unscathed." Survives mostly in its negative form, unscathed, and in figurative meaning "sear with invective or satire" (1852, usually as scathing) which developed from the sense of "scar, scorch" used by Milton in "Paradise Lost" i.613 (1667).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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