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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
Niall Stanage, The Hill, 21 Apr. 2025
This included shooting down uncrewed aerial-ship cruise missiles, during which the Stockdale emerged unscathed.
—David Faris, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Apr. 2025
Though prices are down, experts say Texas’ oil and natural gas industry may manage to weather the storm relatively unscathed — if the entire economy remains strong.
—Kate Marijolovic, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Apr. 2025
No performer turns Tarantino’s screenplays into poetry quite like Samuel L. Jackson, but Goggins manages to go toe to toe with him here and survive unscathed.
—Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 6 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unscathed
Cite this Entry
“Unscathed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unscathed. Accessed 6 May. 2025.
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unscathed
adjective
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