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.
Lotkoy Ebey has just five scrawny goats to her name where she once had 50.
From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026
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.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 6, 2026
Even a scrawny "manfluencer" like Jordan Peterson was claiming to eat a beef-only diet, which would destroy your bowels and is terrible for your heart.
From Salon • Apr. 21, 2025
Sorry, Victor Wembanyama, you are not qualified — You’re tall enough at 7 feet 4, but your scrawny 209-pound frame simply will not turn heads at a protest.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 14, 2024
She parks me on a bench near a scrawny elm tree, where I feel strangely invisible as she goes off to fetch two mandarin chicken salads.
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
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.
