scum
Americannoun
-
scums
plural
-
a film or layer of foul or extraneous matter that forms on the surface of a liquid.
-
refuse or offscourings.
-
a low, worthless, or evil person.
-
such persons collectively; riffraff; dregs.
verb (used with object)
-
scums,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scummed,
past participle, past
-
scumming
present participle
-
to remove the scum from.
-
to remove as scum.
verb (used without object)
-
scums,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scummed,
past participle, past
-
scumming
present participle
noun
-
a layer of impure matter that forms on the surface of a liquid, often as the result of boiling or fermentation
-
the greenish film of algae and similar vegetation surface of a stagnant pond
-
Also called: dross. scruff. the skin of oxides or impurities on the surface of a molten metal
-
waste matter
-
a worthless person or group of people
verb
-
(tr) to remove scum from
-
rare (intr) to form a layer of or become covered with scum
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scumsimple
-
scumssimple
-
have scummedperfect
-
has scummedperfect
-
am scummingprogressive
-
are scummingprogressive
-
is scummingprogressive
-
have been scummingperfect progressive
-
has been scummingperfect progressive
Past
-
scummedsimple
-
had scummedperfect
-
was scummingprogressive
-
were scummingprogressive
-
had been scummingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scum
1200–50; Middle English scume < Middle Dutch schūme ( Dutch schuim ) foam; cognate with German Schaum foam
Vocabulary lists containing scum
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:
Also a knighthood and a castle and certainly social status that ensures he won’t be treated like scum.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
But not long after the job was complete, the paint began to visibly peel, and the gleaming waters promptly refilled with green pond scum.
From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026
“I went through four years of hell by this scum that we had to deal with,” Trump said.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2025
On Earth, ocean scum is a key part of sea spray that contributes to the smell of the ocean.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 22, 2024
I want to say l am scum because I feel like scum.
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
When this occurs, blue-green algae can form blooms that discolour the water, or produce floating mats or scums on the water's surface.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2025
When this occurs, the algae can form blooms that discolour the water or produce floating mats or scums on the water’s surface.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2024
“You’re in the business of representing scums and trying to make as much money as long as there’s this lapse in the law.”
From Time ● Aug. 6, 2014
"And none of your devilish vinegars and scums."
From The Puppet Crown by Harold MacGrath
There are various genera of the pond scums, differing in the form of the chloroplasts and also in the position of the spores.
From Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses by Douglas Houghton Campbell
A thick mist scummed the windshields as the 39-car motorcade rolled eastward under the grey sky toward Andau, a scant kilometer from the border.
From Time Magazine Archive
The milk, which, after being scummed as before, had been put into a copper kettle, receives its due quantity of rennet, and is gently warmed, if the season requires it.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
The metal was too smooth, and scummed with frost.
From A Matter of Proportion by Anne Walker
In boiling fresh meat, care is necessary to have the water boiling all the time it is in the pot; if the pot is not well scummed, the appearance of the meat will be spoiled.
From Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers by Elizabeth E. (Elizabeth Ellicott) Lea
The sea water overside and around the Pole Star was scummed with a film of mush ice.
From The Ice Pilot by Henry Leverage
The mission stories often guide you through a level’s most unique assassinations, which is a nice gift to players who don’t like engaging in the aggressive, save scumming and trial-and-error obsessiveness those never-be-seen challenges require.
From The Verge ● Jan. 27, 2021
Boil all these together, till the scum be boiled in, not scumming it.
From The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by Anne MacDonell
"There is a brain that will endure but one scumming."
From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 6 Letters 1821-1842 by Mary Lamb
To every pint of juice, add two pounds of powdered loaf-sugar, boiling and scumming it in the same manner as for any other jam or jelly.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Mary Eaton
The next day boil it gently, scumming it all the while till no more scum riseth; and if you will clarifie the Liquor with a few beaten whites of Eggs, it will be the clearer.
From The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by Anne MacDonell
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.
