as in villain
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
a whoring, drunken scapegrace who was blackening the family's name
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Recent Examples of scapegrace
Her affect evokes old-timey words — scamp, scapegrace, minx.
—
New York Times, 22 July 2021
Suddenly, Juliana’s romantic ennui is interrupted by the reappearance, after an 11-year absence, of her scapegrace oldest brother.
—Michael Dirda, Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2020
The Middle Ages died dismally, and the scapegrace poet Francois Villon sang their requiem in the wineshops of the Cité.
—Bruce Dale, National Geographic, 17 Apr. 2019
New York Times, 22 July 2021
Suddenly, Juliana’s romantic ennui is interrupted by the reappearance, after an 11-year absence, of her scapegrace oldest brother.
—Michael Dirda, Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2020
The Middle Ages died dismally, and the scapegrace poet Francois Villon sang their requiem in the wineshops of the Cité.
—Bruce Dale, National Geographic, 17 Apr. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scapegrace
Noun
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Abraham Popoola As Lonnie Lincoln/Tombstone Abraham Popoola portrays Lonnie Lincoln, better known by his villain moniker Tombstone.—
Olivia Singh,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
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Its villains include Alexander Hamilton, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and, above all, Robert Bork, who reinterpreted antitrust doctrine as focused on protecting consumers—a legal transformation that Lynn deems the turning point that set America onto a path toward oligarchy.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
26 May 2026
Noun
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Historically speaking, the Allied Supreme Commander wasn’t considered an angry brute so much as a steady diplomat who was capable of sudden, persuasive rage.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
26 May 2026
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Even the consumer-level codes that encrypt your online banking are so hard to break that every computer on the planet working together would need longer than the age of the universe to brute-force them apart.—
David M. Ewalt,
Scientific American,
19 May 2026
Noun
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Nature can be a lot of things—beautiful, bloody, sweet, savage.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
25 May 2026
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Smoothbrain libs and savages can KMA.—
Joe Kinsey OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
18 May 2026
Noun
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Honestly, who can afford a trip to a monster festival this summer?—
Jed Gottlieb,
Boston Herald,
31 May 2026
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Being bitten by Pirate Clark may have been a manifestation of Clark's deepest emotional wounds and desires — or maybe the monster just needed a meal.—
Emily Blackwood,
PEOPLE,
30 May 2026
Noun
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The bigger issue is that many systems still rely on information criminals may already have, such as birthdays, addresses and partial Social Security numbers.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
30 May 2026
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Iowa Republicans responded by branding Roberts a criminal and calling for an investigation of the district’s hiring practices.—
Corky Siemaszko,
NBC news,
29 May 2026
Noun
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The Amazon television series Good Omens, which ended this month, came closest—but that book, a comedy about an angel and a devil teaming up to avert Armageddon, was co-written with Neil Gaiman, and the source material ran out after the first season in any case.—
Helen Lewis,
The Atlantic,
24 May 2026
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Angels and devils working together to stop Armageddon.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
Noun
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The first time, Julian’s children (James Corden, Jessica Gunning) seemed like miserable, greedy wretches.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
11 Apr. 2026
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The elegant sets and lavish costume designs are stunning, as is Jacob Elordi's multi-faceted performance as the intelligent wretch stitched together from corpses.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
27 Dec. 2025
Noun
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New Orleans has long been notorious for embracing such scoundrels, a reputation that isn’t exactly helped by the fact that, for many years, disgraced attorneys who lost their licenses in Louisiana and applied for readmission to the bar often got it.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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Sure, the Oscar-winning makeup helps transform the actor into Cheney, but the voice and petulance are all Bale, whose conjuring of this scoundrel ought to trigger PTSD for anyone who survived the Dubya years.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Scapegrace.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scapegrace. Accessed 31 May. 2026.
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