scratchy
Americanadjective
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causing or liable to cause a slight grating noise.
a scratchy record.
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consisting of or marked by scratches.
a scratchy drawing.
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uneven; haphazard.
He plays a scratchy game.
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causing itching or other minor irritation of the skin.
a scratchy woolen sweater.
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causing or liable to cause a scratch or scratches.
scratchy bushes.
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Chiefly British Slang. peevish; spiteful.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of scratchy
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.
Scratchy and stiff, it stinks of the stale urine used to set the dye.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
Swartzwelder explained that they managed to get some of the most violent and gory things on air by way of Springfield’s own cartoon-within-a-cartoon, "Itchy & Scratchy."
From Fox News • May 3, 2021
And her rabbit, Señor Scratchy, might be a reference to Agatha’s son in the comics, the supervillain Nicholas Scratch.
From Slate • Feb. 19, 2021
Scratchy Zoom calls seem the least of anyone’s troubles by comparison.
From The Guardian • Dec. 30, 2020
Scratchy sheets or no scratchy sheets, this was exactly the fresh start I’d been hoping for, and for a moment I forgot about the Cocoon and the ominous shadow it had cast over everything.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
