scalawag

noun

ˈska-li-ˌwag How to pronounce scalawag (audio)
variants or scallywag
Definition of scalawagnext
as in villain
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person a scalawag who had taken to begging on street corners while posing as a blind person

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of scalawag Maradona, on the other hand, was a charismatic populist, a scalawag from a shantytown, irrepressible and impudent. — Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 16 July 2026 But what the New Yorker writer left behind is some of the finest prose of the 20th century, focusing primarily on the eccentrics, scalawags, seamen, and other denizens of New York’s dank corners. — Air Mail, 2 May 2026 And yet, after a series of further downward spirals that will dig this scalawag even deeper into a hole and some supernatural mumbo-jumbo, his luck curiously starts to change…. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025 Ticketed experiences include a cannon battle aboard a tall ship, tours of the tall ships in port, a mermaid meet-and-greet and swim show, pirate school for scallywags and more. — Marla Jo Fisher, Oc Register, 8 Sep. 2025 Among the most memorable was the Oyster Wars, a series of clashes dating back to the 1830s with scalawags descending from all over, looking to cash in on the valuable bivalves. — Baltimore Sun Editorial Board, Baltimore Sun, 2 July 2024 The large cast, costumed and made up as a fitly scalawags and sinister buccaneers, gives tremendous energy to every scene. — Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 July 2023 Chadha-Patel is ambiguously charming as a scalawag not entirely out for himself. — cleveland, 1 Dec. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scalawag
  1. villain
  2. brute
  3. monster
  4. savage
  5. scoundrel
  6. devil
Noun
  • Hailing from London as the son of hardscrabble fruit sellers, Winstone was often asked to channel his rough-and-tumble upbringing and pre-acting career as a boxer into mobster and villain roles.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Standing in his way is a mysterious villain intent on his destruction.
    — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of villain
Noun
  • Most sportsmen wonder how any whitetail bucks, let alone a brute such as Kontras’, could have been so easily patterned.
    — Jeff Murray, Outdoor Life, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The show’s depiction of Hugh as a family man has been much more sympathetic than the book’s description of him as a power-hungry brute.
    — James Grebey, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of brute
Noun
  • Hugh Jackman plays the titular monster hunter, who is sent to destroy Dracula.
    — Kara Nesvig, Parents, 29 Aug. 2026
  • There will be no B-movie monsters wearing terrible prosthetics, no scripts full of non sequiturs, no glitchy graphics.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of monster
Noun
  • Manson and his followers evaded police for months but were eventually arrested and charged in the savage slayings in December 1969.
    — Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 15 Aug. 2026
  • For all its characteristic restraint and formal diligence, Killing Spree is a book that wants to make noise, to cut through the dead air with cries of grief and rage, undoing our own savage torpor.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of savage
Noun
  • Hawks is the grounding force of Zero Company, the down-to-Earth scoundrel that keeps everyone humble.
    — Hayes Madsen, Space.com, 26 Aug. 2026
  • That range runs from scoundrels to astromechs, and a Jedi is on the table too.
    — Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of scoundrel
Noun
  • In January, Watts was a guest on actor Rainn Wilson’s podcast, where Watts played devil’s advocate to Wilson’s skeptic about casual use of mind-altering substances.
    — Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Throughout the movie, two mentors stand over each of his shoulders like an aproned angel and devil.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of devil

Browse Nearby Words

scaffolds
scalawag
scalawags
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Cite this Entry

“Scalawag.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scalawag. Accessed 3 Sep. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on scalawag

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about scalawag

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