scabby

American  

[skab-ee] / ˈskæb i /

adjective

scabbier, scabbiest

1. covered with scabs; having many scabs.

2. consisting of scabs.

3. (of an animal or plant) having scab.

4. Informal. mean or contemptible.

   a scabby trick.

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scabby British  

/ ˈskæbɪ /

adjective

1. pathol having an area of the skin covered with scabs

2. obsolete pathol having scabies

3. informal despicable

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Other Word Forms

• scabbiness
  noun
• scabbily
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of scabby

First recorded in 1520–30; scab + -y ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scabby scabbiest

Something is genuinely off about the goings-on at the conference, from strange deaths and elevators that suddenly aren’t elevators, to a rash of scabby infections afflicting guests and the discovery of a subterranean tunnel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2024

"My daughter has a rash across her leg, which is scabby and itchy, and my eldest has anxiety and worries constantly about the mould."

From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2024

I caught a glimpse of ruined bungalows and scabby pastures, and at a hill-like dump, a pack of dogs tearing at garbage.

From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2020

Scratching your bow and scratching your scabby elbows!

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 25, 2019

The land dried up and the grasses headed out miserably a few inches high and great bare scabby places appeared in the valley.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

Thus, they would call their dogs and their asses by his name, and the dogs would be the scabbiest in the streets, and the asses the laziest in the market.

From The Scapegoat; a romance and a parable by Sir Hall Caine

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