Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Bitterly denunciatory; harshly critical.
  • adjective Harmful or painful; injurious.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Damaging; wounding; blasting; scorching: as, scathing irony.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective harshly or bitterly critical
  • adjective harmful or painful; acerbic
  • verb Present participle of scathe.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective marked by harshly abusive criticism

Etymologies

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Examples

  • ZAHN: Finally tonight, a lot of questions raised in this NASA report, what some describe as a scathing report on the leadership at NASA and a lot of debate about whether you can ever convince the American public it's worth exploring Mars.

    CNN Transcript Aug 26, 2003 2003

  • When I showed her the weekly letters which her daughter had written me, and photographs of Baby which she had sent, and the Dominion Express Company's receipts for large sums of money which I had sent from Winnipeg, she denounced her daughter and her daughter's husband in scathing terms.

    Madeleine: An Autobiography Madeleine 1919

  • But in short, scathing words and significant change of metre he reverses the picture to show his view of it, when, in the companion song of

    Mysticism in English Literature Caroline F. E. Spurgeon 1905

  • The spokesman was referring to a scathing speech Kenny gave on July 20, in which he berated the Vatican for its part in covering up child-abuse allegations against its clergy.

    TIME.com: Top Stories 2011

  • The spokesman was referring to a scathing speech Kenny gave on July 20, in which he berated the Vatican for its part in covering up child-abuse allegations against its clergy.

    TIME.com: Top Stories 2011

  • Enderle was referring to a scathing blog post by Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, who wrote on Wednesday that Microsoft was banding with others to acquire "bogus patents" to make sure Google can't get to them.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • The spokesman was referring to a scathing speech Kenny gave on July 20, in which he berated the Vatican for its part in covering up child-abuse allegations against its clergy.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • Enderle was referring to a scathing blog post by Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, who wrote on Wednesday that Microsoft was banding with others to acquire "bogus patents" to make sure Google can't get to them.

    Breaking News: CBS News 2011

  • She is known as a scathing critic of the former Egyptian regime.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed SARAH EL DEEB 2011

  • Enderle was referring to a scathing blog post by Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, who wrote on Wednesday that Microsoft was banding with others to acquire "bogus patents" to make sure Google can't get to them.

    chron.com Chronicle 2011

Comments

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  • Bitterly severe

    July 8, 2014