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Scofflaw Was Created for a Contest
In 1924, a wealthy Massachusetts Prohibitionist named Delcevare King sponsored a contest in which he asked participants to coin an appropriate word to mean "a lawless drinker." King sought a word that would cast violators of Prohibition laws in a light of shame. Two respondents came up independently with the winning word: scofflaw, formed by combining the verb scoff and the noun law. Henry Dale and Kate Butler, also of Massachusetts, split King’s $200 prize. Improbably, despite some early scoffing from language critics, scofflaw managed to pick up steam in English and expand to a meaning that went beyond its Prohibition roots, referring to one who violates any law, not just laws related to drinking.
Examples of scofflaw in a Sentence
Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 26 Apr. 2025
Now, all the scofflaws can drive wild with no consequences in Baltimore City.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 23 Apr. 2025
The Trump administration’s scofflaw tendencies and tech companies’ increasing hostility toward European values may lead to the collapse of the EU-U.S. arrangements on which tech companies such as Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft depend.
—Henry Farrell, Foreign Affairs, 3 Apr. 2025
Continue reading … -- POLITICS FRAUD SQUAD – Lawmakers launch effort to probe COVID aid scofflaws.
—FOXNews.com, 2 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scofflaw
Cite this Entry
“Scofflaw.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scofflaw. Accessed 3 May. 2025.
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