as in villain
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
some scoundrel stole my wallet
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Recent Examples of scoundrel
Going back to the origins of everyone's favorite scoundrel, Han Solo, may have felt like a no-brainer — especially with Kasdan on board as co-writer — but the film never felt like an essential addition to the rapidly expanding canon.
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Richard Edwards, Space.com, 17 Dec. 2025
Giannis, a gentleman even in this era of scoundrels, likely wants to do right by the Bucks, too.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 3 Dec. 2025
Star Wars Outlaws on Switch 2 drops you into the galaxy’s underworld as Kay Vess, a scoundrel trying to pull off the biggest heist in the Outer Rim.
—PC Magazine, 1 Dec. 2025
These twin influences, religious fervor and a preoccupation with dangerous men, would go on to define the next six decades of the director’s working life, finding expression as a conviction that even scoundrels are in possession of a soul.
—Graham Hillard, The Washington Examiner, 31 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scoundrel
Richard Edwards, Space.com, 17 Dec. 2025
Giannis, a gentleman even in this era of scoundrels, likely wants to do right by the Bucks, too.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 3 Dec. 2025
Star Wars Outlaws on Switch 2 drops you into the galaxy’s underworld as Kay Vess, a scoundrel trying to pull off the biggest heist in the Outer Rim.
—PC Magazine, 1 Dec. 2025
These twin influences, religious fervor and a preoccupation with dangerous men, would go on to define the next six decades of the director’s working life, finding expression as a conviction that even scoundrels are in possession of a soul.
—Graham Hillard, The Washington Examiner, 31 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scoundrel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scoundrel
Noun
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The iconic villain, portrayed by Robert Mitchum in 1962’s Cape Fear and by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s 1991 version, is back on screen in the new Apple TV adaptation.—
Kirsten Chuba,
HollywoodReporter,
3 June 2026
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Dead-end conflict is where the hero and the villain, the good guys and the bad guys, essentially never have any opportunity for movement or reconciliation at the end of the story.—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
3 June 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
Cite this Entry
“Scoundrel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scoundrel. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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