scruffy
Americanadjective
-
scruffier,
comparative
-
scruffiest
superlative
adjective
Other Word Forms
Adjective Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of scruffy
Vocabulary lists containing scruffy
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:
Bryan’s character is a big part of the movie’s appeal; he’s a scruffy, discombobulated everyman who figures out solutions on the fly, not a boringly cool and composed slaying machine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Even Graham Platner, the scruffy Maine oyster farmer, was winning Obama-esque praise before his Senate candidacy imploded.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026
Officer Britney Myers spotted the scruffy critter and climbed down a manhole after her, as seen in video from the agency.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Indiana is in many ways a liminal state, the place you pass through between scruffy Cleveland and business-like Chicago, with little to inspire romantic odes to home.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
Bruce was a large man with a bald head that shone in the dull light, his face pale and scruffy with a few days’ worth of beard.
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
“Drive-Away Dolls” might suggest a return to a scruffier sensibility.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2024
The mug shot posted by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office appears to show the same person as in the shot posted on Mr. Jurgens’ LinkedIn account, although he looks considerably scruffier in the arrest photo.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 6, 2023
During the pandemic, he has traded his Washington-based policy wonk look with a trimmed beard and buzzed hair for a shaggier and scruffier look to fit a Colorado mountain man.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 8, 2021
In the ’70s, when I was in high school, I feel like it was the scruffier, surfer/skier kids who wore them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2018
There are scruffier models where the cars have been blandly renovated but the antique controls remain, and imperfectly maintained ones that shudder and jerk as the elevator man flips the lever.
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2017
She remembered being staggered by the size and opulence of the home, while Sullivan was at his desk "wearing the scruffiest tracksuit".
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
In the early days of their rise, the Stones were the most notorious, scruffiest band of hit-makers in the U.K., where one tabloid headline famously asked, “Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2019
Wild” has been on the air since 2006, he insists he hired a publicist last year “so I don’t have to do P.R.,” and that he’s “still always the scruffiest person at any meeting.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2012
For an hour and 13 minutes the converted Russian tuna boat chased one of the mightiest ships of the Seventh Fleet; in turn, it was chased by one of the scruffiest vessels in the U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
I looked up into a pair of big black eyes and the scruffiest, fluffiest black-and- white face I’d ever seen.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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