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Glite Dictionary
scabrous detail

scabrous detail

9.9
Shocking sexual or offensive details about someone's private life
  • noun
  • Offensive
translation icon : detalle escabroso
  • Some memoirs include every scabrous detail to attract readers' attention.

Examples

  • His novel was filled with scabrous detail that shocked the conservative audience.

  • The journalist promised not to publish any scabrous detail about the politician’s private life.

  • The documentary avoided the scabrous detail and focused on the victims' recovery instead.

  • The article included a scabrous detail about the politician's past.

  • Did you read that scabrous detail in the newspaper?

  • The article revealed a scabrous detail about the celebrity's scandalous affair.

  • She was criticized for including scabrous detail in her biography that offended many families.

Synonyms

dirty linen
vsscabrous detail
  • Informal
1 7.9

Private family or personal matters that embarrass people if the public finds out

is more shocking and often involves sexual or moral scandal
dirt on someone
vsscabrous detail
  • Informal
7.2

Secret facts that could make someone look bad if people know them

focuses more on sexual or morally shocking details than general reputation harm

Antonyms

clean
418 1.0

Without problems or faults

How Shocking

to explode a bombshell
  • Informal
7.7
scabrous detail
  • Offensive
9.9
dirt on someone
  • Informal
7.2
sensitive
  • Formal
183 8.1
private
∞ 2.2

Surface Forms

scabrous detail singular
scabrous details plural

Morphology

scabrous + details

The adjective 'scabrous' (risqué, obscene) directly modifies 'detail(s)' (specific facts), so the combined meaning — sexually suggestive or scandalous information — is transparently derived from the constituents. This is a compositional, non-idiomatic phrase whose sense is predictable for a learner who already knows both words.

Etymology

Scabrous detail may come from the image of a scab, a rough, ugly bit of skin, so scabrous came to mean something coarse or shocking. So scabrous detail means a small fact that is 'shocking or scandalous information'.