scruffy
Americanadjective
-
scruffier,
comparative
-
scruffiest
superlative
adjective
Other Word Forms
Adjective Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of scruffy
Vocabulary lists containing scruffy
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:
Even Graham Platner, the scruffy Maine oyster farmer, was winning Obama-esque praise before his Senate candidacy imploded.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026
Halfway into my second drink, a scruffy, tall guy with silvery blond hair from New York sat down next to me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Indiana is in many ways a liminal state, the place you pass through between scruffy Cleveland and business-like Chicago, with little to inspire romantic odes to home.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
The tension between instinct and domesticity is at the heart of almost all canine fiction, including three scruffy, intriguing books from this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
“I mean, I didn’t have time to look at him closely. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and jeans but he didn’t look scruffy at all.”
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
As I drove there, the well-kept strip malls of Garden Grove transitioned to scruffier ones on the Stanton side.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
“Drive-Away Dolls” might suggest a return to a scruffier sensibility.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2024
They pit establishment power against a new, scruffier and perhaps more vital power.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 25, 2023
The mug shot posted by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office appears to show the same person as in the shot posted on Mr. Jurgens’ LinkedIn account, although he looks considerably scruffier in the arrest photo.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 6, 2023
There are scruffier models where the cars have been blandly renovated but the antique controls remain, and imperfectly maintained ones that shudder and jerk as the elevator man flips the lever.
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2017
She remembered being staggered by the size and opulence of the home, while Sullivan was at his desk "wearing the scruffiest tracksuit".
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
In the early days of their rise, the Stones were the most notorious, scruffiest band of hit-makers in the U.K., where one tabloid headline famously asked, “Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2019
Wild” has been on the air since 2006, he insists he hired a publicist last year “so I don’t have to do P.R.,” and that he’s “still always the scruffiest person at any meeting.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2012
For an hour and 13 minutes the converted Russian tuna boat chased one of the mightiest ships of the Seventh Fleet; in turn, it was chased by one of the scruffiest vessels in the U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
I looked up into a pair of big black eyes and the scruffiest, fluffiest black-and- white face I’d ever seen.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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.
