scrape
Americanverb (used with object)
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to deprive of or free from an outer layer, adhering matter, etc., or to smooth by drawing or rubbing something, especially a sharp or rough instrument, over the surface.
to scrape a table to remove paint and varnish.
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to remove (an outer layer, adhering matter, etc.) in this way.
to scrape the paint and varnish from a table.
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to scratch, injure, or mar the surface of in this way.
to scrape one's arm on a rough wall.
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to produce by scraping.
He scraped his initials on the rock.
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to collect or do by or as if by scraping; do or gather laboriously or with difficulty (usually followed by up ortogether ).
They managed to scrape together a football team.
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to rub harshly on or across (something).
Don't scrape the floor with your boots!
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to draw or rub (a thing) roughly across something.
Scrape your shoes on the doormat before you come in.
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to level (an unpaved road) with a grader.
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Digital Technology. to extract (data) from a digital source for automated replication, formatting, or manipulation by a computer program, as in data mining or website data analysis.
This project scrapes comments on online forums for linguistic research.
We can scrape older data from obsolete systems with a very simple interface.
verb (used without object)
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to scrape something.
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to rub against something gratingly.
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to produce a grating and unmusical tone from a string instrument.
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to draw one's foot back noisily along the ground in making a bow.
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to manage or get by with difficulty or with only the barest margin.
I barely scraped through on the test.
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to economize or save by attention to even the slightest amounts.
By careful scraping they managed to survive.
noun
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an act or instance of scraping.
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a drawing back of the foot noisily along the ground in making a bow.
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a harsh, shrill, or scratching sound made by scraping.
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a scraped place.
a scrape on one's elbow.
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an embarrassing or distressing situation; predicament.
He is always in some kind of a scrape.
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a difference of opinion, fight, or quarrel; scrap.
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Digital Technology.
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the process of extracting data from a digital source for automated replication, formatting, or manipulation by a computer program, as in data mining or website data analysis.
How long will the scrape take to complete?
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the product of this process.
The scrape maliciously copied private content to manipulate search engine rankings.
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verb
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to move (a rough or sharp object) across (a surface), esp to smooth or clean
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(tr; often foll by away or off) to remove (a layer) by rubbing
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to produce a harsh or grating sound by rubbing against (an instrument, surface, etc)
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(tr) to injure or damage by rough contact
to scrape one's knee
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(intr) to be very economical or sparing in the use (of) (esp in the phrase scrimp and scrape )
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(intr) to draw the foot backwards in making a bow
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(tr) to finish (a surface) by use of a scraper
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(tr) to make (a bearing, etc) fit by scraping
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to behave with excessive humility
noun
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the act of scraping
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a scraped place
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a harsh or grating sound
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informal an awkward or embarrassing predicament
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informal a conflict or struggle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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scrapesimple
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scrapessimple
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have scrapedperfect
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has scrapedperfect
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am scrapingprogressive
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are scrapingprogressive
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is scrapingprogressive
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have been scrapingperfect progressive
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has been scrapingperfect progressive
Past
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scrapedsimple
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had scrapedperfect
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was scrapingprogressive
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were scrapingprogressive
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had been scrapingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scrape
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English verb scrapen, from Old Norse skrapa (replacing Middle English shrapen Old English scrapian “to scratch”); cognate with Old Norse skrapa; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
To scrape something is to scratch or remove its surface. If you scrape your knee, you'll probably need a Band Aid. You can scrape the toe of your favorite boots, or scrape your arm on a branch. This might cause a scrape on your skin or your shoe, a mark that shows. There is also a kind of scrape you can hear, like the scrape of a chair on a floor, and the kind of scrape, or awkward situation, you suddenly find yourself in. People also scrape things together, or gather up as much as they can find.
Vocabulary lists containing scrape
"American Names"
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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:
I considered whipping the miso into cold butter, making a compound butter to scrape over oven-hot sourdough before adding tomato slices and crystalline hunks of salt.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
Instead, these would-be business owners scrape together financing on a deal-by-deal basis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
And even if he manages to scrape by in committee, Blanche can afford to lose only three Republican votes in the Senate.
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2026
Would a win over Haiti followed by two defeats be acclaimed as a riotous success if it's enough to scrape into the knockouts as one of the best third-placed teams?
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
Then we stretched it out to scrape it, and hung it again to rinse it, many hands making light work.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Instead of using soap or chemicals, it physically scrapes away dirt and marks from surfaces.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 18, 2026
“The water comes out in very fast movements, with a high velocity, and it scrapes away all these materials” from the valley, said Sattar, creating a “hyper-concentrated” flood that is savage in its power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
Across two hours, Buckley’s Bride shoots, kicks, contorts, dances, scrapes, whizzes, licks and screams, all the while coming no closer to her true self than she was at the start of the film.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
Meyer helped design a tracking system that scrapes data from Zillow to detect price hikes greater than 10%.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
Enough scrapes were finished by soon after sunset and next day, sure enough, all the rabbits felt a great deal better for a night underground.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
They point out that “solar farm” is a misnomer because the land — an alluvial plane with Yucca colonies dating back hundreds of years, creosote rhizomatic rings even longer — will be scraped and fenced.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
A former altar boy, he grew up as one of seven children in Nairobi informal settlements, and his parents scraped together enough to send him to school and university, where he studied criminology.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
In the general election of October 1964, Hattersley won the seat as Labour scraped back into power with a parliamentary majority of just four.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
If Broadway has scraped the barrel-bottom of A-list movies to adapt, at least it can mock them: “Titanique” is a frisky and funny spoof of the James Cameron juggernaut about that big ship that sank.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Macon stood so quickly, his chair scraped the floor.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
Rank-and-file in the UK-based Netball Super League are scraping into five figures and often working second jobs, although full-time marquee players fare much better.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Last week, the government’s own energy statisticians published an explainer on the term, because, at one of America’s most important oil hubs, prices now suggest the tanks may already be scraping bottom.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
A key survey of American consumers is scraping bottom, showing they’ve never felt this lousy about the economy, even at the height of recessions or when the Covid pandemic raged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
I mean, people have been scraping the whole web since the first search engine.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
After a few moments he heard a scraping above him and saw the faint reflection of the golden ball.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
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.
