scraggly

[skrag-lee]

adjective

scragglier, scraggliest 

1. irregular; uneven; jagged.

2. shaggy; ragged; unkempt.

scraggly

/ ˈskræɡlɪ /

adjective

1. untidy or irregular

Word History and Origins

Origin of scraggly¹

First recorded in 1865–70; scrag + -ly

Example Sentences

On Jan. 9, as the Eaton fire still blazed, Davis returned to his own home to capture in watercolors the scraggly trees, the overturned plants, the still-standing chimneys.

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The Vietnamese people smuggler emerged, briefly and hesitantly, from the shadows of a scraggly forest close to the northern French coastline.

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Still, the mention of native, low-water landscaping, or xeriscaping, conjures images of dusty plots with a few cactuses and scraggly shrubs interspersed with rocks.

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With a scraggly stem a few meters tall, a handful of slim branches and modest, hand-shaped leaves, it doesn't look like anything special.

Read more on Salon

“Because by the look of you, even if you were gold, you wouldn’t weigh enough, you scraggly thing.”

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Related Words

• bedraggled 
• scruffy 
• unkempt