scraggly
Americanadjective
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irregular; uneven; jagged.
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shaggy; ragged; unkempt.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of scraggly
Explanation
Use the adjective scraggly for anything that's messy, uneven, or sparse — like your teenage cousin's scraggly beard. In England, scraggly (or, alternatively, scraggy) is primarily used to describe a skinny person or animal. North Americans are more likely to talk about the dry, scraggly brush in the desert or their scraggly hair first thing in the morning when they roll out of bed. Related adjectives that are now obsolete included scraggling and scragged, all from a Scandinavian root.
Vocabulary lists containing scraggly
When Sea Becomes Sky
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The Mighty Miss Malone
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Solito: A Memoir
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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:
His balding head’s scraggly hair—in contrast to the wigs worn by just about every Frenchman at the time, no matter the social class—is both ennobling and a bit enfeebling, like an aging but distinguished mane.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
A shriek broke the dawn on the savannah, followed by more screeches and the rustle of branches: The wild Fongoli chimps were bidding each other good morning in the dry, scraggly Sahel.
From Barron's ● Jan. 15, 2026
In Netflix’s “Too Much,” Megan Stalter plays Jessica, a New Yorker who decides to move to London, scraggly dog in tow, after a bad breakup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2025
A scraggly crust punk wore a jacket patched with an upside-down American flag.
From Slate ● Apr. 9, 2025
He ripped a fistful of leaves off a scraggly tree we were walking by.
From "When I Was the Greatest" by Jason Reynolds
“You don’t want to answer the door with wet hair and be the scraggliest person at your own party,” she says.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2021
But Kimbrel, the Red Sox closer, and Turner, the Dodgers’ third baseman, now seem to be competing for the unofficial title of bushiest, scraggliest, most unkempt beard in sports.
From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2018
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.
