scraping

American  

[skrey-ping] / ˈskreɪ pɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of a person or thing that scrapes.

2. the sound of something being scraped.

3. Usually scrapings. something that is scraped off, up, or together.

4. Digital Technology. 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: web scraping;

   screen scraping;

   web scraping;

   URL scraping.

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scraping British  

/ ˈskreɪpɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of scraping

2. a sound produced by scraping

3. (often plural) something scraped off, together, or up; a small amount

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Other Word Forms

• nonscraping adjective
• scrapingly adverb
• unscraping adjective

Etymology

Origin of scraping

A late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; scrape, -ing ¹

Example Sentences

Emil Michael, undersecretary at the Pentagon for research and engineering, has been quick to note that tech companies are the ones scraping the internet for user data.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026

Arsenal kicked off at the same time as City on Wednesday and capitalised by scraping a 1-0 victory at Brighton.

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2026

On average, scraping behavior appeared after just 82 minutes.

From Science Daily • Feb. 23, 2026

“I would argue there are other ways that we could accomplish children’s safety goals online that don’t require scraping as much personal data from people.”

From Salon • Feb. 11, 2026

Annie said that Cleopatra’s Needle is so high, it looks like it’s scraping against the sky.

From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman

Related Words

• agitation
• erosion
• irritation
• resistance