scavenge
Americanverb (used with object)
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scavenges,
present (3rd person singular)
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scavenged,
past participle, past
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scavenging
present participle
-
to take or gather (something usable) from discarded material.
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to cleanse of filth, as a street.
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to expel burnt gases from (the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine).
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Metallurgy. to purify (molten metal) by introducing a substance that will combine chemically with impurities.
verb (used without object)
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scavenges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scavenged,
past participle, past
-
scavenging
present participle
-
to act as a scavenger.
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(of an engine or cylinder) to become scavenged of burnt gases.
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to search, especially for food.
verb
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to search for (anything usable) among discarded material
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(tr) to purify (a molten metal) by bubbling a suitable gas through it. The gas may be inert or may react with the impurities
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to clean up filth from (streets, etc)
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chem to act as a scavenger for (atoms, molecules, ions, radicals, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scavengesimple
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scavengessimple
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have scavengedperfect
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has scavengedperfect
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am scavengingprogressive
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are scavengingprogressive
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is scavengingprogressive
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have been scavengingperfect progressive
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has been scavengingperfect progressive
Past
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scavengedsimple
-
had scavengedperfect
-
was scavengingprogressive
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were scavengingprogressive
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had been scavengingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scavenge
First recorded in 1635–45; back formation from scavenger
Explanation
When you scavenge, you pick through discarded things looking for whatever is salvageable and can be reused. If you're looking for a replacement part for a vintage car, you might scavenge at the dump for a suitable part. If you're a freegan you've embraced the idea of trying to live for free, recycling and reusing what others have discarded, leaving a small footprint on the planet. You’re on the lookout for good places to scavenge, such as the dumpster behind a busy supermarket, where you might find edible food, or the trash bins at clothing stores, where wearable clothing is tossed out. Vultures, hyenas, and other animals that feed on carrion — dead animals — also scavenge.
Vocabulary lists containing scavenge
Gathering Blue
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Salt to the Sea
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The Invention of Hugo Cabret
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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.
See Examples For:
But at the one we visited in Holguín, portions had gotten smaller and less varied, and staff were forced to scavenge for wood to cook with, due to gas shortages and unreliable electricity.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2026
The study's findings suggest the birds are doing more than just tracking the hunters: they're using navigation and spatial memory techniques to scavenge with sophistication.
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
Cougars, however, rarely scavenge from other carnivores and are skilled hunters on their own, leaving scientists uncertain about what truly shapes their interactions with wolves.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 3, 2026
When they aren’t thieving, bald eagles also scavenge from roadkill or help themselves to free food found in human garbage or at the town landfill.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2026
It is hard for me to walk, but I must scavenge for food.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
That same pigment in your skin also naturally scavenges free radicals in response to damaging environmental pollution from industrial sources and automobile exhaust fumes.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2023
Oxygen scavenges methane, so there was a rapid disappearance of methane; Earth lost that early methane greenhouse effect.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 26, 2023
The local artist scavenges twigs and bark and reassembles the tree scraps into objects that resemble parts of actual trees.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 27, 2023
A couple scavenges through recycling bins, pulling out plastic water bottles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2023
They are Vorticellæ; and every one of those bells, by the ciliary current on its rim, is scavenging the water - till a tadpole comes by and scavenges it.
From Prose Idylls, New and Old by Charles Kingsley
Mothers feed babies with scraps scavenged from trash cans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026
A Wyoming archaeological site where people killed or scavenged a Columbian mammoth nearly 13,000 years ago has produced yet another discovery that sheds light on the life of these early inhabitants of North America.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024
Cynthia “Cyn” Carranza meticulously scavenged for a shady parking spot in the car she called home.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2024
Lee Kun-Yong’s sculpture “Corporal Term,” which sits atop a wooden pallet, is remade whenever it is shown, its natural elements scavenged from local sources.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
I scattered a handful of sunflower seeds thirty paces down the drive to draw the birds and then I sat down on the steps on a ratty old cushion I’d scavenged from the trunk room.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Both injuries were potentially sustained during scavenging or during a battle with other dinosaurs.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Some irregular food items such as chicken and pig were also detected in the samples, suggesting that wolves are also scavenging from human waste disposal sites.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
A video circulating on social media shows a man expelling a soldier and another official from his home after finding them scavenging around.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
Paulo found an unemployed gospel singer who made a living scavenging Latin America's largest trash dump.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026
The scavenging of her ship must have been successful.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
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.
