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

At the end, Bjornsson — who had been nursing a knee injury — retained his title, although not everyone made it through unscathed. — Rob Tanner, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Teflon Rudy After staring down the possibility of federal prison time and financial ruin, Giuliani has appeared to make it out for the most part unscathed. — Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 6 Sep. 2026

Corle escaped the incident relatively unscathed except for a few bruises and a bite wound on his arm. — Jan Thacker, Outdoor Life, 3 Sep. 2026

While there still may be some legal wrangling over the exact nature of the advertising remedies, Google is emerging from this era of legal uncertainty largely unscathed. — Ryan Whitwam, ArsTechnica, 2 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