scrape
Americanverb (used with object)
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scrapes,
present (3rd person singular)
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scraped,
past participle, past
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scraping
present participle
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to deprive of or free from an outer layer, adhering matter, etc., or to smooth by drawing or rubbing something, especially a sharp or rough instrument, over the surface.
to scrape a table to remove paint and varnish.
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to remove (an outer layer, adhering matter, etc.) in this way.
to scrape the paint and varnish from a table.
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to scratch, injure, or mar the surface of in this way.
to scrape one's arm on a rough wall.
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to produce by scraping.
He scraped his initials on the rock.
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to collect or do by or as if by scraping; do or gather laboriously or with difficulty (usually followed by up ortogether ).
They managed to scrape together a football team.
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to rub harshly on or across (something).
Don't scrape the floor with your boots!
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to draw or rub (a thing) roughly across something.
Scrape your shoes on the doormat before you come in.
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to level (an unpaved road) with a grader.
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Digital Technology. to extract (data) from a digital source for automated replication, formatting, or manipulation by a computer program, as in data mining or website data analysis.
This project scrapes comments on online forums for linguistic research.
We can scrape older data from obsolete systems with a very simple interface.
verb (used without object)
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scrapes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scraped,
past participle, past
-
scraping
present participle
-
to scrape something.
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to rub against something gratingly.
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to produce a grating and unmusical tone from a string instrument.
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to draw one's foot back noisily along the ground in making a bow.
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to manage or get by with difficulty or with only the barest margin.
I barely scraped through on the test.
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to economize or save by attention to even the slightest amounts.
By careful scraping they managed to survive.
noun
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scrapes
plural
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an act or instance of scraping.
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a drawing back of the foot noisily along the ground in making a bow.
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a harsh, shrill, or scratching sound made by scraping.
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a scraped place.
a scrape on one's elbow.
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an embarrassing or distressing situation; predicament.
He is always in some kind of a scrape.
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a difference of opinion, fight, or quarrel; scrap.
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Digital Technology.
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the process of extracting data from a digital source for automated replication, formatting, or manipulation by a computer program, as in data mining or website data analysis.
How long will the scrape take to complete?
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the product of this process.
The scrape maliciously copied private content to manipulate search engine rankings.
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verb
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to move (a rough or sharp object) across (a surface), esp to smooth or clean
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(tr; often foll by away or off) to remove (a layer) by rubbing
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to produce a harsh or grating sound by rubbing against (an instrument, surface, etc)
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(tr) to injure or damage by rough contact
to scrape one's knee
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(intr) to be very economical or sparing in the use (of) (esp in the phrase scrimp and scrape )
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(intr) to draw the foot backwards in making a bow
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(tr) to finish (a surface) by use of a scraper
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(tr) to make (a bearing, etc) fit by scraping
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to behave with excessive humility
noun
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the act of scraping
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a scraped place
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a harsh or grating sound
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informal an awkward or embarrassing predicament
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informal a conflict or struggle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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scrapesimple
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scrapessimple
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have scrapedperfect
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has scrapedperfect
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am scrapingprogressive
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are scrapingprogressive
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is scrapingprogressive
-
have been scrapingperfect progressive
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has been scrapingperfect progressive
Past
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scrapedsimple
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had scrapedperfect
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was scrapingprogressive
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were scrapingprogressive
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had been scrapingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scrape
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English verb scrapen, from Old Norse skrapa (replacing Middle English shrapen Old English scrapian “to scratch”); cognate with Old Norse skrapa; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
To scrape something is to scratch or remove its surface. If you scrape your knee, you'll probably need a Band Aid. You can scrape the toe of your favorite boots, or scrape your arm on a branch. This might cause a scrape on your skin or your shoe, a mark that shows. There is also a kind of scrape you can hear, like the scrape of a chair on a floor, and the kind of scrape, or awkward situation, you suddenly find yourself in. People also scrape things together, or gather up as much as they can find.
Vocabulary lists containing scrape
"American Names"
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"The Challenge"
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Shiloh
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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:
State Street uses artificial intelligence to help scrape consumer prices from online sources, providing more frequent and recent looks at inflation data than measurements from the government, he noted.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
Some thicker icebergs that break from tidewater glaciers without floating ice shelf extensions can scrape along the seabed or become grounded inside a fjord.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
With the scrape Debbie and Judith find themselves in, a beach holiday is out of the question.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
Given how AI companies train their models on information they scrape from the internet—and even their own customers—he finds it “ironic” that they would try to restrict others from distillation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
DeShon’s and Nessa’s steps thump; me and Jay scrape dirt and rock.
From "Paradise on Fire" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
"As a stand-alone piece of theatre, The Mad King scrapes through," he wrote.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Instead of using soap or chemicals, it physically scrapes away dirt and marks from surfaces.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 18, 2026
Providers applied skin substitutes to minor scrapes and bruises—at an average cost of $121,501 per patient and $230,103 for those treated at home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
How can they keep a low enough profile so that the authorities won’t be summoned when her brother Junior is getting into scrapes at school?
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
A few scrapes, some mud, and a fleck of Crispy Cheese ’n’ Wiener, but no tattoos.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
RubyGems files are supposed to contain code and documentation that help speed up software development; these contained webpages scraped from the internet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
The tool includes a database of over 70 billion images, many of which were scraped from public internet sources including social media.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, her characters scraped together jobs to support passion projects that were overwrought and beyond their grasp.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
A curdled mug of nostalgia for adult-size puppets leading children around candy-hued soundstage sets, “Buddy” is a horror comedy scraped from the fuzzy lining of low-rent kiddie programming.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Our uncle returned his attention to his table, brushing aside stubborn gnats as he scraped bark from a twisted, blackened branch and put it in a jar.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
"He seemed to be living a luxurious lifestyle when other people are scrimping and scraping along," one NOS member told the court.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Search engines and AI rely on web scraping and frequency of mentions, and the sheer volume of his fake posts caused AI to mistakenly identify him as an NFL wide receiver.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
After an OpenAI researcher informed Brockman about a hack to get around the New York Times paywall when scraping content, Brockman responded, “ah nice,” according to the filing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Quinta Brunson’s scraping schoolteacher Janine Teagues in “Abbott Elementary” hopes to grow into the roles modeled by classroom veterans before rent and bills push her out of the profession.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
Nhamo crouched by the mukwa log scraping, scraping, scraping with a sharpened rock.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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.
