scarred
Americanadjective
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having a scar left by a healed wound, sore, or burn.
He is tall and well-built, with a badly scarred face where he was bitten by a shark.
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experiencing the psychological aftereffects of suffering or trauma.
The main character endures childhood abuse and grows up to be a deeply scarred individual who thinks the whole world is against him.
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(of a wound, burn, etc.) having formed a scar in healing.
As healing progresses, the patient must be weaned away from needing a gauze wrap on the closed, scarred wound.
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blemished or marred as a result of damage or use.
Empty corrugated-iron buildings lie amidst a scarred landscape full of rubble.
They furnished their first apartment with a used desk, a badly scarred table, and two old chairs with rickety legs.
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Botany. bearing a mark indicating a former point of attachment, as where a leaf has fallen off.
As the dieffenbachia ages, some of the lower leaves dry up and fall off, leaving a scarred stem that gradually lengthens.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of scarred
First recorded in 1425–75; scar 1 + -ed 2 for the adjective senses; scar 1 + -ed 1 for the verb sense
Explanation
Something that's scarred is beat up, showing marks of wear or injury. The scarred wooden floors in the old school show that generations of kids have walked on them. The adjective scarred describes something that's been hurt and shows some physical evidence of it. Your battle-scarred tabby cat might be missing a few whiskers and have a couple of nicks in his ears, and your knees might be scarred from falling off your bike. You can even be scarred in non-physical but lasting and serious ways, like being emotionally scarred by a breakup or a friend's betrayal. Being scarred this way might make you more cautious in the future.
Vocabulary lists containing scarred
Dwight D. Eisenhower, "The Military-Industrial Complex" (1961)
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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myPerspectives 10.5
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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.
Obviously, and he had some darkness in him; he came back from World War II really scarred, couldn’t really deal with it . . . but he was also a very outgoing guy.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026
Its roads are scarred by potholes, sewage leaks and overgrown vegetation.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Nina Snow, the novel’s heroine and conscience, is scarred by the Bosnian wars of the 1990s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
A city centre, once so scarred by sectarian violence that it was barricaded off every night, was turned into one big, pedestrianised stage to showcase all its traditions.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
They’d look like…well, no one would have any idea what they’d look like: eye-patched pirates, limping pickpockets, scarred swordsmen.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
