scar
1 Americannoun
-
a mark left by a healed wound, sore, or burn.
-
a lasting aftereffect of trouble, especially a lasting psychological injury resulting from suffering or trauma.
-
any blemish remaining as a trace of or resulting from injury or use.
-
Botany. a mark indicating a former point of attachment, as where a leaf has fallen from a stem.
verb (used with object)
-
scars,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scarred,
past participle, past
-
scarring
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
scars,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scarred,
past participle, past
-
scarring
present participle
noun
-
a precipitous, rocky place; cliff.
-
a low or submerged rock in the sea.
noun
-
any mark left on the skin or other tissue following the healing of a wound
-
a permanent change in a person's character resulting from emotional distress
his wife's death left its scars on him
-
the mark on a plant indicating the former point of attachment of a part, esp the attachment of a leaf to a stem
-
a mark of damage; blemish
verb
-
to mark or become marked with a scar
-
(intr) to heal leaving a scar
noun
-
an irregular enlongated trench-like feature on a land surface that often exposes bedrock
-
a similar formation in a river or sea
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scarsimple
-
scarssimple
-
have scarredperfect
-
has scarredperfect
-
am scarringprogressive
-
are scarringprogressive
-
is scarringprogressive
-
have been scarringperfect progressive
-
has been scarringperfect progressive
Past
-
scarredsimple
-
had scarredperfect
-
was scarringprogressive
-
were scarringprogressive
-
had been scarringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scar1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; shortening of eschar
Origin of scar2
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English scarre, skerre, from Old Norse sker skerry
Explanation
A scar is a place where a wound healed but is still visible, or if you're little, it's a mark where a boo-boo was. Scar is from the Greek word eskhara, a "scab formed after a burn." It's all that and more. Scar can be a noun or a verb — you can have a scar on your knee after your skateboarding incident, and a bad round of chicken pox can scar you. Something scary can scar, you, too, like a horror movie or catching your parents in the act. Scars can be emotional. Take one letter off scare and you're left with a scar.
Vocabulary lists containing scar
Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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American Street
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The sharp pain of the wound may heal, but the scar remains—and we must all find a way that the broken heart can both feel the truth of its brokenness and emerge enlarged and reshaped.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
"A deep scar" is how he explained his mental state.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
"Obviously, there is still a scar on us when you believed and everyone was so united and so confident we could do it," Saka said.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
City staff regularly meet with the National Weather Service and are working to “shore up” burn scar areas and reduce the effects of debris flows, flooding and high winds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
The skin shifts, revealing the scar that wraps around his ring finger.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
“It happened to me, and it’s the truth, and I have all the scars to prove it,” Manganiello told the outlet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Researchers had previously used EMR to reshape cartilage-rich rabbit ears and to modify scars and skin in pigs.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
Meanwhile, Laura fears she may have scars above both of her eyes for life.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
The paranoid body fought itself while seeking out danger, leaving lasting scars in the process.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
In their quiet luminance, the scars left from the Rupture almost disappeared.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Interest rates are already higher than four years ago, she added, and consumers, somewhat scarred by previous price hikes, have changed how they spend.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
Now, standing above the scarred banks of the river in Nuwakot district more than a week after the disaster, Dawadi described himself simply as "a principal without a school".
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
A seamless grid of autobahns and high speed rail linking a transnational union no longer scarred by checkpoints and exit visas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Even before ensnaring Ruffo, the ever-expanding huachicol fiscal scandal had already scarred the Mexican navy, long one of the nation’s most trusted institutions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Mami’s sewing machine, the bed, her rocking chair, the small dresser where Papi kept his special things, baked in the sun, their worn surfaces scarred, their joints loose and creaky.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
This can lead to more serious health issues including scarring and narrowing of the esophagus, or even tearing in the esophagus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Flash flooding in Arizona recently swept through the Grand Canyon, killing at least two people, a weather event that was exacerbated by wildfire scarring, drought and warming temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
Doctors told her time and again that it could not be endometriosis - an incurable condition causing lesions and scarring on internal organs and around the body, external - because she was too young.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
"GDF15 helps reprogram liver cells to reduce inflammation and scarring by advanced spatial technology," says Dongdong Wang, first and corresponding author of the study and assistant professor in McMaster's Department of Medicine.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
With a start, she saw the gray in them was from scarring: punctured places in his eyes that had healed over time.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
