scrawny
Americanadjective
adjective
-
very thin and bony; scraggy
-
meagre or stunted
scrawny vegetation
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of scrawny
1825–35, variant of dial. scranny < Norwegian skran lean + -y 1
Explanation
Scrawny is an insulting way to describe someone who's very thin and weak. You might be surprised by how lifting weights transformed your scrawny teammate to a muscular athlete by the end of the season. The adjective scrawny can describe a small, underweight body but it can also describe anything that's not very big or well-made — a scrawny tree that never gets any taller or fuller or a scrawny audience that disappoints the band because they were expecting a sold-out concert. Scrawny may have come from the Old Norse word skraelna, to shrivel.
Vocabulary lists containing scrawny
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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List 8
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"The Hunger Games" Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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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.
Scrawny and elderly residents can often be found sifting through the discarded waste.
From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026
A 3-year-old visiting for the second time listened to her grandfather reading “The Tawny Scrawny Lion.”
From New York Times • Apr. 1, 2024
My father was gone, she was pregnant, and I made my way through “Tawny Scrawny Lion” again and again, then begged her for a new book.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 27, 2019
Scrawny and barefoot, the men peered through the small, square openings in the metal doors as the stench of urine and body odor hung in the stale air.
From Washington Post • Jul. 2, 2017
Scrawny kitten, belly swollen with worms, crawling with fleas.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
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.
