EnglishClub ESL Forums

Hello,

I've found today the word scathe . For my surprise http://www.macmillandictionary.com/ and http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ returned no result for it . Searching internet I found a definition in few other dictionaries, meaning something not working e.g. "My car was scathed.".

I'm wandering how popular is it as a verb?

I found it in all examples used as scathing as a severe critique. I'd appreciate your comments about it.

Thank you

It's surprising not to find "scathe" in those two dictionaries, albeit the verb is very rarely used. It does appear in the Apple Dictionary on my Mac where it is defined as to "harm; injure".

It's much more common as: "He escaped unscathed" or "He was barely scathed."

The adjective "scathing" is relatively common also, meaning "witheringly scornful; severely critical".