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Synonyms

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.


scabby British  
/ ˈskæbɪ /

adjective

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

  2. obsolete pathol having scabies

  3. informal despicable

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of scabby

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


Vocabulary lists containing scabby

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:

Some days were clean, and then some days he was scabby and flaking.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2025

"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

Other buildings wear their age in their scabby, rain-damaged paint; Ishana was the sleek, prosperous beast in the pack.

From New York Times ● Jul. 2, 2020

Scratching your bow and scratching your scabby elbows!

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 25, 2019

I shrugged, and small pains shot through my scabby shoulders.

From "Kindred" by Octavia Butler

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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