Negative Words Starting With S (With Definitions)

Here is a thorough collection of negative words that all begin with the letter S, plus their definitions to add context.

There are many negative words that begin with the letter S, many of which describe a person who is behaving in an unprofessional, uncouth or unpalatable manner.

The below list of words are all negative adjectives, verbs or nouns and all have a negative connotation.

List of Negative Words Starting With S

 

Sacrilegious: Trespassing on sacred grounds; outrageously disrespectful.

Sad: Feeling grief, sorrow, or disappointment; gloomy.

Sadistic: Having or showing a cruel delight in causing pain or distress to others.

Sardonic: Bitterly mocking or cynical; caustic and sneering.

Satan: A rebellious, diabolical person or character; an embodiment of evil.

Savage: Cruel and barbaric; ruthless.

Savageness: Characterized by brutality and cruelty; mercilessly savage.

Savagery: Brutal or cruel behavior; ferocity and brutality.

Scalding: Burning hot; extremely and painfully hot to the touch.

Scammer: Someone who uses deceitful methods to get money from unsuspecting victims; a con artist.

Scampish: Cheating; behaving mischievously or dishonestly.

Scandalous: Shockingly disgraceful or immoral; outrageous.

Scantiness: Insufficient in amount or degree; inadequate.

Scarcity: The lack of something available in plentiful supply; dearth.

Scary: Causing fright or alarm; intimidating.

Scathing: Severely critical or derogatory; scathingly sharp.

Schadenfreude: Taking pleasure in the misfortune of others.

Scheming: Engaging in crafty or underhanded plans; plotting.

Scorched-earth: Thoroughly destroyed or damaged by fire, explosives; devastated.

Scorching: Punitively severe or intense; blistering.

Scorn: A feeling or attitude of contempt or disdain for someone or something regarded as unworthy, corrupt, or inferior.

Scornful: Feeling or expressing contempt or disdain; derisive.

Scourge: A source of severe or intense suffering and affliction; a plague.

Scurrilous: Uttering or publishing low, vulgar, abuse, or maliciously false statements; insulting.

Scurvy: Despicably low or contemptible; base, vile, and insignificant.

Secretive: A tendency to keep things hidden, especially from others; secretive.

Sedition: Conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state.

Seditious: Inciting or tending to incite rebellion against authority.

Selfish: Exhibiting excessive concern for oneself at the expense of others; egocentric.

Senselessness: Lacking common sense, intelligence, or reason; irrationality.

Separatist: One who advocates for or seeks to achieve separation from a larger group; secessionist.

Serpentine: Sly, cunning, and deceitful; artfully deceptive or evasive.

Sexist: showing prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination against people based on their gender.

Shameful: Deserving of or causing public disgrace or humiliation.

Shamelessness: Lacking any sense of shame or humility; brazenly shameless.

Shifty: Evasive and untrustworthy; liable to sudden and unexplainable change.

Short-sighted: Having an inadequate sense of the future consequences of current actions.

Sinister: Having an evil appearance or connotation; threatening.

Skulking: To keep out of sight, usually with a fearful or guilty purpose; hiding.

Slackness: The state of not being on time, up to standard, or efficient; laxity.

Slander: False and malicious statements about someone, typically intended to harm their reputation; calumniation.

Slanderous: Making false and damaging statements about someone, typically intended to harm their reputation; defamatory.

Slanders: False and malicious statements about someone, typically intended to harm their reputation; defamation.

Sleazy: Loud, tastelessly showy, or tawdry; lacking in moral standards.

Slinky: Sly and slyly cunning; crafty or sneaky.

Slippery: Difficult to hold onto; hard to pin down or control.

Sloth: Laziness and lack of enthusiasm or ambition; slovenly indolence.

Slothful: Indolent; habitually inactive or lazy.

Slothfulness: Inactivity and laziness, often to the point of idleness; indolence.

Slovenly: Negligent and disorganized in behavior, appearance, etc.; untidy.

Sluggard: A person who habitually avoids work; a lazybones.

Slyness: Resourceful, tricky, and cunning behavior; deviousness.

Snarky: Sarcastic, rude, or disrespectful in an annoying, often aggressive manner.

Sneaky: Acting in a stealthy, furtive manner; sly and underhanded.

Sneering: Expressing contempt or derision through words or facial expression.

Sneeringly: Expressing contempt or derision through words, facial expressions, gestures, etc.; sarcastically mocking.

Snide: Making cutting remarks; sarcastic.

Snivelling: Complaining in an annoying, insincere manner; whiny and pitiful.

Snobbish: Excessively concerned with one’s own superiority in terms of social status, wealth, and fashion sense.

Solicitous: Showing excessive care or attention, often in a way that is viewed as intrusive; meddlesome.

Somberness: Serious and gloomy in character or atmosphere; somnolent.

Sophistry: Reasoning that appears logical but is actually fallacious; deceptive rhetoric.

Sordid: Characterized by dishonesty and immorality, especially in the pursuit of wealth and power.

Sordidly: Dishonestly or immorally; marked by greed or corruption.

Sordidness: Characterized by disgraceful and unscrupulous behavior; degraded and immoral.

Soul-crushing: Dismally discouraging; emotionally devastating.

Sour: Bitterly resentful or cynical; displeased, disappointed, or disillusioned.

Spendthrift: One who spends money in an irresponsible or wasteful manner; an extravagant individual.

Spitefulness: Intentionally annoying or hurtful behavior, often for revenge; maliciousness.

Spurious: False or counterfeit; not genuine; deceptive.

Spurn: To reject disdainfully or contemptuously; to treat with disdain or contempt.

Squalid: Characterized by filth, poverty, misery, and degradation; wretched.

Squalor: Disgusting filth or poverty; abject and degraded misery.

Stagnant: Not circulating or flowing; motionless and stagnant. Unchanging or motionless; dull and lifeless.

Staunch: Unwavering in one’s allegiance or determination; resolute and tenacious.

Stenches: An unpleasant odor that is strong and offensive; an acrid stench.

Stifling: Preventing the growth or development of something; repressive.

Stigma: Something that discredits or disgraces a person; a mark of shame.

Stigmatize: To bring dishonor or disgrace upon someone; to brand with infamy.

Stinginess: Extreme reluctance to spend money or to part with possessions; miserliness.

Stinting: Giving or granting in a miserly or grudging manner; ungenerous.

Stodgy: dull, old-fashioned, lacking in imagination or creativity

Strident: Loud, harsh, and aggressive in tone; grating.

Stubborn: Unreasonably unwilling to change one’s opinion or chosen course of action; determined to resist any attempt to persuade one to do something different.

Stubbornness: Refusing to accept advice or yield to the opinions of others; mule headed.

Stultifying: Dulling the vigor, spirit, or vitality of something; oppressive or confining.

Stupefying: Making someone feel extremely confused or bewildered; astounding.

Stupidity: A lack of intelligence, foresight, common sense, good judgment, or understanding.

Subjugate: To bring someone under control by force; to dominate.

Subservient: Willing to obey others without question, even if it goes against one’s own will or interests; servile.

Subterfuge: A deceptive strategy used to hide one’s true motives or intentions; guile.

Subversive: Intended to overthrow or undermine an established political system; revolutionary.

Sulky: bad-tempered, irritable and unhappy.

Sullen: Gloomy and ill-tempered; sullenly morose.

Sullenly: Gloomily and resentfully silent; obstinate or unresponsive.

Sullenness: Gloomy and resentful; obstinate or unresponsive.

Sullied: To make something less pure by tarnishing it; to stain.

Sullying: To soil, stain or discolor; to disgrace.

Supercilious: Arrogantly disdainful or contemptuous; haughty and overbearing.

Surliness: Rude and bad-tempered

Suspicion: A feeling that something is wrong or not as it appears; distrust.

Suspicious: Having or showing a lack of trust in someone or something; wary.

Swindler: Someone who uses deceitful and fraudulent methods to obtain money; a con artist.

Sycophantic: Showing servile flattery and excessive submissiveness; obsequious.

 

For more lists of words, both negative and positive, be sure to check out:

• Negative Words That Start With A (With Definitions)
• Negative Words Starting With B (With Definitions)
• Negative Words Starting With C (With Definitions)
• Negative Words Starting With D (With Definitions)
• Negative Words Starting With E (With Definitions)
• 270+ Negative Words That Start with I (With Definitions) – Bad I Words
• Positive Adjectives – List of 400+ Positive Describing Words