adjective
-
roughened because of small projections; scaly
-
indelicate, indecent, or salacious
scabrous humour
-
difficult to deal with; knotty
Other Word Forms
- scabrously adverb
- scabrousness noun
- unscabrous adjective
- unscabrously adverb
- unscabrousness noun
Etymology
Origin of scabrous
1575–85; < Latin scab ( e ) r rough + -ous
Explanation
The word scabrous can describe anything that's bumpy and coarse, like your pet iguana or the rough stucco walls in your parents' house. The adjective scabrous is also used to describe things that are considered lewd or obscene, like a scabrous newspaper cartoon that manages to offend everyone who sees it. The Latin root, scaber, means "rough and scaly," and is closely related to scabere, "to scrape."
Vocabulary lists containing scabrous
Crispin: The Cross of Lead
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Fablehaven
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Dune
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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.
The theater lost the case, and both “Saved” and Bond’s next play, “Early Morning,” a scabrous satire on British royalty, were banned in Britain.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 5, 2024
His songs blended the scabrous and the sentimental, ranging from carousing anthems to snapshots of life in the gutter to unexpectedly tender love songs.
From Washington Times • Nov. 30, 2023
Closing track Pop The Balloon is a scabrous onslaught of cactus-prick guitar riffs, as the inhabitants fall out and the seeds of revolution are sown.
From BBC • Jul. 5, 2023
Other rewardingly memorable voices belong to Maria Bilbao as Sweeney’s daughter, Johanna, Ruthie Ann Miles as the pitiable Beggar Woman and John Rapson as the scabrous Beadle Bamford.
From Washington Post • Mar. 26, 2023
The only thing startling about Dana’s appearance was a fat, scabrous upper lip that hadn’t been that way when Roy dropped off the letter at Dana’s front door.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
