unscathed

Unscathed is an adjective used to describe being “uninjured” or “unharmed,” especially after a trying or dangerous experience.

This word isn’t only used in situations where someone or something has escaped physical injury. It can also be applied to when a person’s reputation, finances, or emotional well-being are unscathed after some major ordeal.

Example: The company was lucky to come out of the economic crisis unscathed, still turning a profit and even hiring new employees.

Unscathed is recorded around 1325–75. It’s made up of the prefix un-, meaning “not,” and scathed. Scathed is based on scathe, a verb meaning principally “to criticize harshly” and, in older use, “hurt or harm.” Fun fact: scathe is borrowed from a Scandinavian (Old Norse) word meaning “to hurt.”

Unscathed is a word we tend to see with its negative prefix, like disgruntled or unkempt. That is, we don’t usually described something as scathed to mean “harmed.” The root verb of unscathed, scathe, is most commonly seen in the verbal adjective, scathing, such as a scathing remark, insult, criticism, attack, or the like.

What are some synonyms for unscathed?

• unharmed
• untouched
• unscarred
• safe
• intact

What are some words that share a root or word element with unscathed?

• scathe
• scathing

What are some words that often get used with unscathed?

• emerge (unscathed)
• relatively (unscathed)
• walk away (unscathed)
• come out (unscathed)

 

Unscathed is a fairly common word—and a great one to add to your everyday vocabulary if it’s new to you.

Unscathed does get used in relation to physical injury or damage, such as when someone escapes unscathed from a natural disaster.

Power is back on, I have no damage to my house, and somehow my food didn’t spoil 🖤 I am extremely lucky to have made it out of Dorian unscathed. I hope everyone else is safe

— Carolyn (@TheRitzCarolyn) September 7, 2019

But, unscathed also gets used in many other areas of life, from sports to politics and personal relationships, especially to characterize someone or something as undamaged after a stressful, trying, or dangerous episode.

hold your guy friends accountable for anything they do that makes women uncomfortable, we can’t keep living in a world where women have to live with the trauma they are put through while their abusers are able to walk around freely unscathed

— almighty push (@igotsour) September 9, 2019

Congrats to our very own @TrevorKelley44 for his Fenway debut this afternoon!! Facing the meat of the Yankee lineup, gave up two walks, but induced 2 fly balls, and a pop out to escape the inning unscathed! Way to go, Trevor!!

— AHSBaseballClub (@AHSBaseballClub) September 8, 2019

A political candidate is hosting a town hall to address questions their constituents may have about their community. The discussion gets pretty heated, but the candidate addresses all their questions in the end. Use unscathed in sentence to describe how the candidate came out after the event.