scrawny
Americanadjective
adjective
-
very thin and bony; scraggy
-
meagre or stunted
scrawny vegetation
Other Word Forms
- scrawnily adverb
- scrawniness noun
Etymology
Origin of scrawny
1825–35, variant of dial. scranny < Norwegian skran lean + -y 1
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.
I saw a few scrawny boys leaning out the open upstairs windows, hooting and whistling at the fallen pickpocket on the street below.
From Literature
Although he played quarterback, he was so scrawny that it was hard for even the most optimistic coach to imagine how he would survive a college pass rush.
Yet as funny as it is to see a guy this scrawny carry himself like Hercules, he leaps and strikes with conviction.”
From Los Angeles Times
Yet as funny as it is to see a guy this scrawny carry himself like Hercules, he leaps and strikes with conviction.
From Los Angeles Times
He was too shy, too scrawny, too awkward.
From Literature
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.
