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Can you be scathed instead of unscathed?
We often hear of a person coming through some difficult circumstance, or dangerous endeavor, and “emerging unscathed,” yet we rarely hear of anyone “emerging scathed.” Why is this? Scathe is a word: it may function as a noun (“harm, injury”) or as a verb (“to do harm to,” “to assail with withering denunciation”). It is not as commonly found as it once was, and now primarily serves as the basis for the adjective scathing (“bitterly severe”) or for the latter portion of unscathed. So you can say that someone “emerged scathed” if you wish, but be advised that it will have a curiously archaic sound to it.
Examples of unscathed in a Sentence
Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2025
Che didn’t get through the joke swap unscathed either.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 22 Dec. 2024
If the Vikings can get through the Seahawks and Packers unscathed — and ditto for the Lions against the Bears and Niners — that finale will undoubtedly be the favorite to close the season in prime time.
—Austin Mock, The Athletic, 17 Dec. 2024
Like the Virgin Mary statue that emerged from the blaze miraculously unscathed, the organ somehow managed to avoid significant damage in the April 2019 fire.
—Caroline Baum and Sérène Nourrison, CNN, 6 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for unscathed 
Dictionary Entries Near unscathed
Cite this Entry
“Unscathed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unscathed. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
unscathed
adjective
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