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Showing results for scapegrace. Search instead for Cape+Race.
Synonyms

scapegrace

American  
[skeyp-greys] / ˈskeɪpˌgreɪs /

noun

  1. a complete rogue or rascal; a habitually unscrupulous person; scamp.

scapegrace British  
/ ˈskeɪpˌɡreɪs /

noun

  1. an idle mischievous person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of scapegrace

First recorded in 1800–10; scape 2 + grace

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Young Andrew, by contrast, looked a bit of a scapegrace, tie askew.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 2, 2025

The Porters were his difficult, scapegrace father’s family; the Coles were his mother’s rich and ambitious Indiana family.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 13, 2020

I knew that what I did as a 16-year-old in Virginia would forever be a hellhound on my trail, but I hoped that I had outpaced my scapegrace.

From New York Times • Oct. 16, 2018

While King Henry's England is threatened by rebellion, the king's scapegrace son Hal haunts the taverns of London, his companions a crew of rogues and...

From Slate • Nov. 7, 2016

There was a scapegrace fellow in the crowd named Ktesippos, a Samian, rich beyond all measure, arrogant with riches, early and late a bidder for Odysseus’ queen.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.