an incident during the 1972 US presidential campaign, when a group of agents employed by the re-election organization of President Richard Nixon were caught breaking into the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate building, Washington, DC. The consequent political scandal was exacerbated by attempts to conceal the fact that senior White House officials had approved the burglary, and eventually forced the resignation of President Nixon

any similar public scandal, esp involving politicians or a possible cover-up

a scandal that involves officials violating public trust through subterfuge, bribery, burglary, and other abuses of power in order to maintain their positions of authority