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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
Ralph D. Russo, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2025
The Patriots allowed a pressure rate north of 40% last week, but largely escaped unscathed in Buffalo.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
No one was ever arrested for the crime that somehow left everyone else in the car, including another son of Bobbitt’s, physically unscathed.
—Kansas City Star, 9 Oct. 2025
The Yankees threatened with runners in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings, but the Blue Jays were able to head back into the dugout unscathed.
—Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 9 Oct. 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 19 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
unscathed
adjective
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