Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "scalawag" []

  • Informal A reprobate; a rascal. (noun)
  • A white Southerner working for or supporting the federal government during Reconstruction. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "scalawag" in a sentence
  • "The scalawag was the native white man who made up the middle class of the South; the planter above, the Negro below."
  • "A scalawag was a Southerner who deserted his political affiliations for the spoils of the Republican party."
  • "But certain it is that the enemy - authorities and 'scalawag' - friends, who now cruelly oppress the whites and elevate the negro over us - are hated as the ravaging armies never were, and a true union seems farther off than ever. ""