unscathed

adjective

un·​scathed ˌən-ˈskāt͟hd 

: wholly unharmed : not injured

Did you know?

Can you be scathed instead of unscathed?

We often hear of a person coming through some difficult circumstance, or dangerous endeavor, and “emerging unscathed,” yet we rarely hear of anyone “emerging scathed.” Why is this? Scathe is a word: it may function as a noun (“harm, injury”) or as a verb (“to do harm to,” “to assail with withering denunciation”). It is not as commonly found as it once was, and now primarily serves as the basis for the adjective scathing (“bitterly severe”) or for the latter portion of unscathed. So you can say that someone “emerged scathed” if you wish, but be advised that it will have a curiously archaic sound to it.

Examples of unscathed in a Sentence

She escaped from the wreckage unscathed.

The administration was left relatively unscathed by the scandal.

Recent Examples on the Web

Needless to say, things start to break down almost immediately, and the birthday boy doesn't make it out unscathed. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 9 Oct. 2026

While the team survived mostly unscathed, the series is looking different as showrunner Victor Teran takes the helm. — Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 7 Oct. 2026

This may not be the time for panic, but Sean Payton’s team is headed back to the Front Range anything but unscathed. — Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 4 Oct. 2026

The duo walks away from this skirmish, though not unscathed, as Samjad quickly and economically sets up a blistering saga of stylish reprisals with no holds barred. — Siddhant Adlakha, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

early Scots unskathyd, from un- un- entry 1 + scathyd, past participle of scathe "to scathe entry 2"

Note: This word is known only in Scots before the nineteenth century. It appears in Walter Scott's poem Marmion (1808), and the line in which it occurs ("and hop'st thou hence unscathed to go?") is echoed by Byron in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers ("And though I hope not hence unscathed to go"). Remarkably, the word occurs earlier ("Hence from my gates! hence while unscath'd ye may!") in William Stewart Rose's Amadis de Gaul; A Poem in Three Books (London, 1803), based on a sixteenth-century version of the romance Amadis of Gaul by Nicolas de Herberay, Sieur des Essarts.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unscathed

• bathed

Kids Definition

unscathed

adjective

un·​scathed ˌən-ˈskāt͟hd 

ˈən-

: completely unharmed : not injured