In 1924, a wealthy Massachusetts Prohibitionist named Delcevare King sponsored a contest in which he asked participants to coin an appropriate word to mean "a lawless drinker." King sought a word that would cast violators of Prohibition laws in a light of shame. Two respondents came up independently with the winning word: scofflaw, formed by combining the verb scoff and the noun law. Henry Dale and Kate Butler, also of Massachusetts, split King’s $200 prize. Improbably, despite some early scoffing from language critics, scofflaw managed to pick up steam in English and expand to a meaning that went beyond its Prohibition roots, referring to one who violates any law, not just laws related to drinking.
Examples of scofflaw in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebMany American schoolkids can recite the misadventures of scofflaws such as Jesse James, but Moses’s story got forgotten — at least until Roberts went digging.—Drew Goins, Washington Post, 30 July 2024 Residents in the adjacent Riverwood Ranch, a gated, 37-home enclave, are fed up and are calling for a city crackdown on scofflaw visitors.—Jasmine Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2024 The state requires the annual staffing audits but does not require that districts divulge the names of the scofflaw schools.—Jenny Gold, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2024 There’s a faculty move to get all charges dropped
Michael Hiltzik: With Live Nation lawsuit, government signals it’s fed up with alleged corporate scofflaws
A fifth grader’s fundraiser cleared his school of meal debt.—Hartford Courant, 30 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for scofflaw
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scofflaw.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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