scrubby

American  

[skruhb-ee] / ˈskrʌb i /

adjective

scrubbier, scrubbiest

1. low or stunted, as trees.

2. consisting of or covered with scrub, stunted trees, etc.

3. undersized or inferior, as animals.

4. wretched; shabby.

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scrubby British  

/ ˈskrʌbɪ /

adjective

1. covered with or consisting of scrub

2. (of trees or vegetation) stunted in growth

3. informal messy

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Other Word Forms

• scrubbily adverb
• scrubbiness noun

Etymology

Origin of scrubby

First recorded in 1745–55; scrub ² + -y ¹

Example Sentences

Kharg Island, targeted in US air strikes on Saturday, is a scrubby stretch of land in the Gulf that handles almost all of Iran's crude exports.

From Barron's • Mar. 14, 2026

To reach Australia’s pole in 2022, Brown flew to a town in the interior desert, rented a 4X4 and off-roaded across scrubby ranchland.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026

But Sui Ching insists and, for once, her husband, Jack, follows her lead, and so the family heads south to the “twenty hectares of scrubby jungle and farmland” that now belong to her.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2025

She says she had been stuck in France for two months, after travelling there from Vietnam via Hungary, sleeping in tents in a scrubby forest.

From BBC • Jan. 5, 2025

It’s probably rubbish, part of a load dumped into the scrubby little wood up the bank.

From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins