scavenge
Americanverb (used with object)
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to take or gather (something usable) from discarded material.
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to cleanse of filth, as a street.
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to expel burnt gases from (the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine).
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Metallurgy. to purify (molten metal) by introducing a substance that will combine chemically with impurities.
verb (used without object)
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to act as a scavenger.
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(of an engine or cylinder) to become scavenged of burnt gases.
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to search, especially for food.
verb
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to search for (anything usable) among discarded material
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(tr) to purify (a molten metal) by bubbling a suitable gas through it. The gas may be inert or may react with the impurities
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to clean up filth from (streets, etc)
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chem to act as a scavenger for (atoms, molecules, ions, radicals, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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scavengesimple
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scavengessimple
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have scavengedperfect
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has scavengedperfect
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am scavengingprogressive
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are scavengingprogressive
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is scavengingprogressive
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have been scavengingperfect progressive
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has been scavengingperfect progressive
Past
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scavengedsimple
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had scavengedperfect
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was scavengingprogressive
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were scavengingprogressive
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had been scavengingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scavenge
First recorded in 1635–45; back formation from scavenger
Explanation
When you scavenge, you pick through discarded things looking for whatever is salvageable and can be reused. If you're looking for a replacement part for a vintage car, you might scavenge at the dump for a suitable part. If you're a freegan you've embraced the idea of trying to live for free, recycling and reusing what others have discarded, leaving a small footprint on the planet. You’re on the lookout for good places to scavenge, such as the dumpster behind a busy supermarket, where you might find edible food, or the trash bins at clothing stores, where wearable clothing is tossed out. Vultures, hyenas, and other animals that feed on carrion — dead animals — also scavenge.
Vocabulary lists containing scavenge
Gathering Blue
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Salt to the Sea
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The Invention of Hugo Cabret
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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:
But at the one we visited in Holguín, portions had gotten smaller and less varied, and staff were forced to scavenge for wood to cook with, due to gas shortages and unreliable electricity.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2026
The study's findings suggest the birds are doing more than just tracking the hunters: they're using navigation and spatial memory techniques to scavenge with sophistication.
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
Cougars, however, rarely scavenge from other carnivores and are skilled hunters on their own, leaving scientists uncertain about what truly shapes their interactions with wolves.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 3, 2026
When they aren’t thieving, bald eagles also scavenge from roadkill or help themselves to free food found in human garbage or at the town landfill.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2026
“There’s got to be good scavenge there,” he said.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
That same pigment in your skin also naturally scavenges free radicals in response to damaging environmental pollution from industrial sources and automobile exhaust fumes.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2023
Oxygen scavenges methane, so there was a rapid disappearance of methane; Earth lost that early methane greenhouse effect.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 26, 2023
The local artist scavenges twigs and bark and reassembles the tree scraps into objects that resemble parts of actual trees.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 27, 2023
Munyoki’s mother, Martha Waringa, a 35-year-old single parent who also scavenges, says her son’s wages will help pay his seven siblings’ school fees when classes resume.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 20, 2020
They are Vorticellæ; and every one of those bells, by the ciliary current on its rim, is scavenging the water - till a tadpole comes by and scavenges it.
From Prose Idylls, New and Old by Kingsley, Charles
In the early 1980s, that included dumpster-diving at Kroger, where we scavenged perfectly good food—fresh mushrooms, wheels of cheese, pineapples—that we couldn’t afford to buy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Specialized occupational therapy tools at the clinic were replaced by scavenged substitutes: buttons, small glasses, pieces of wood or pipe now help patients relearn activities of daily living.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2025
Huge lorries dumping directly onto the ground amid a sea of waste, as birds scavenged.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2025
The LaPrele site in Converse County preserves the remains of a killed or scavenged sub-adult mammoth and an associated camp occupied during the time the animal was butchered almost 13,000 years ago.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024
Cold and gray and heavy in the scavenged bowl of the countryside.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
Both injuries were potentially sustained during scavenging or during a battle with other dinosaurs.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Some irregular food items such as chicken and pig were also detected in the samples, suggesting that wolves are also scavenging from human waste disposal sites.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
A video circulating on social media shows a man expelling a soldier and another official from his home after finding them scavenging around.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
Hunting almost certainly began in East Africa, with our ancient ancestors scavenging the kills of other predators.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
“They’re probably out scavenging for food,” she says.
From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech
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.
