Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One who habitually violates the law or fails to answer court summonses.
Wiktionary
- n. One who habitually violates minor laws or fails to answer trivial court summonses (such as parking tickets).
- n. An iconoclast.
WordNet 3.0
- n. one who habitually ignores the law and does not answer court summonses
Etymologies
- Coined simultaneously by Mr Henry Irving Dale and Miss Kate L. Butler for a contest held in Boston in 1923 in which a word for "a lawless drinker of illegally made or illegally obtained liquor" was sought during the Prohibition era. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Yes, a scofflaw is a lawbreaker, and that's a bad thing to be, but the word doesn't really make you detest scofflaws, which is what the person seeking the word wanted.”
“For example, if she found herself calling a hotel manager to remind him of a corporate promotion and wasnt getting a response, instead of fretting and repeatedly calling the scofflaw manager, Heidi did something different.”
“Why not make exceptions for the type of individualist who (in the bad old days) people called a scofflaw, a rebel.”
“Switzerland on Thursday desperately sought to reassure its citizens and international banking clients that it would safeguard a treasured tradition of confidential accounts after taking tax fraud and agreed to pay 780 million dollars to the US tax fraud and agreed to pay 780 million dollars to the US government, cooperate in an ongoing probe and name scofflaw clients, the”
WN.com - Articles related to To woo customers, public banks extend home loan schemes
“And whether one is a 'scofflaw' is sometimes in the eyes of the beholder.”
“In almost every storyline, someone is breaking an established rule, and though not every scofflaw meets the same fate, "scofflaw" is still the name of the game.”
Mark Blankenship: The Big Review: Big Love Season 3, Ep. 2 (Spoilers)
“King offered a prize of $200 to whoever came up with the best word to describe "a lawless drinker of illegally made or illegally obtained liquor," and on Jan. 15, 1924, "scofflaw" was proclaimed to be the winning word.”
“The expression that covers that scenario and its adherents is called "scofflaw" defined as a person who flouts the law, rules, conventions, or accepted practices.”
“Michael Bloomberg for being a "scofflaw" in refusing to cooperate with the immigration authorities.”
“35-Year MtP Resident attributes the problem to "scofflaw" Supercan and recycling storage on public space on the block.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘scofflaw’.
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Bad Options
words for those who commit particular crimes: i.e., bank robber, arsonist, etc.
liar, cheat, traitor, arsonist, felon, braggard, thief, profiteer, impostor, phony, fraud, culprit and 212 more...
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Perponyms
List of words referent to persons who commit specific crimes, or are suspected of committing those crimes, beginning with arsonist and safecracker.
Check out reesetee's nice Bad Guys l...arsonist, safecracker, murderer, rapist, getaway man, jewel thief, accomplice, drug dealer, carjacker, gunrunner, industrial spy, human trafficker and 216 more...
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Unsavory characters
absconder, aretaloger, arriviste, avaunter, bamboozler, bandit, banger, barbarian, barmecide, barrator, beldam, blatherskite and 190 more...
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scoundrels and bastards
already several of these lists, but I wanted my own
varlet, scoundrel, ne'er-do-well, cad, thug, churl, boor, hooligan, bastard, slubberdegullion, dastard, tosspot and 85 more...
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Killjoy et al
Namely, compounds consisting of a verb with a direct object immediately after it, without inflection
killjoy, lickspigot, quakebuttock, throttlebottom, scattergood, scapegrace, swillbowl, tosspot, breakfast, cutthroat, pickpocket, dreadnought and 84 more...
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wonky words
apotheosis, apotheosize, gimcrack, Strine, denizen, hoary, epicene, spurious, scofflaw, effete, scrimshaw
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capitalcreative's Words
deviltry, visceral, cassanova, assuage, genesis, hot minute, osmosis, wistful, sublime, loathe, farfetched, newfangled and 283 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 475 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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words found to be generally pleasing
alabaster, mahogany, camphor, coalesce, spire, portmanteau, gadabout, palaver, dolor, dour, dun, luminesce and 610 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Compounds That Look Freakish
You know who you are, freakish compounds. Though very useful, some of these words just don't seem right together--or, their meanings are so far from what the two (or more) component words suggest t...
nightjar, bullfinch, grassquit, bananaquit, ovenbird, waxwing, stonechat, wheatear, bushtit, wrentit, starthroat, godwit and 158 more...
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Who Are You?
No one ever says, "I want to be a somnambulist when I grow up." But don't let that get in the way of organizing your Wordie lists.
chevalier, somnambulist, sommelier, troubadour, vicar, majordomo, caliph, polyglot, polymath, apprentice, nuyorican, privateer and 107 more...
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SCRUBJAYS IDIOM
EXTRAPOLATE, altruistic, misanthropic, predicate, pejoritive, disparaging, bucolic, sylvan, veracity, autodidact, jejune, erudite and 110 more...
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The Collection
A somewhat discriminatory list of words and phrases collected for their euphonic or arcane appeal, interesting etymology, or concise definition of an otherwise unnamed phenomenon or concept.
ziggurat, neophilia, sucker punch, soporific, epoch, tundra, fiat, idiotproof, miscellany, metaphysics, cryptozoology, dysphoria and 850 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for scofflaw.
silas
"Someone who contemptuously breaks the law, especially a law that is difficult to enforce."
~ http://www.brownielocks.com/words.html ~ Sep 17, 2009