scurvy
Americannoun
adjective
-
scurvier,
comparative
-
scurviest
superlative
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of scurvy
Explanation
If you are a pirate who doesn't get to shore very often to shop for fresh fruits and veggies, you might suffer from scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy has some alarming symptoms: your gums become soft and tender and your teeth fall out. Scurvy has become a rarity in most parts of the world, but in regions where food is scarce and malnutrition common, it's still a problem. The unpleasant associations of the word also make it a colorful (and archaic) way to describe something low-down and miserable, as in "that was a scurvy trick you played on me, you dastardly cur!"
Vocabulary lists containing scurvy
Romeo and Juliet
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Words Every Pirate Should Know
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"Of Plymouth Plantation," Vocabulary from the historical account
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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:
In 1912 the Polish biochemist Casimir Funk proposed that illnesses such as scurvy were caused by the absence of specific chemicals in the diet, launching a race to synthesize vitamins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
"A diet like this over weeks would lead to 'hidden hunger', increasing the risk of diseases like anaemia and scurvy" he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2025
Early white settlers, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia, would eat cranberries as a source of vitamin C to prevent scurvy, “and the berry’s naturally waxy coating allowed for long keeping.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 18, 2023
Like scurvy, which results from a deficiency of vitamin C, beriberi was common in the 19th century among sailors on extended voyages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2023
More than once, the scurvy swab made a panic-stricken dive over the side, preferring to swim ashore, where he would cope ultimately with Dad, instead of meeting the captain on the latter’s own quarterdeck.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
The films draws viewers into this world, allows them to fall in love with it, even as it sets them at a distance from the scurvier action of the characters.
From Time Magazine Archive
The "rheumatiz" has much to answer for all through English country-sides, but it never played a scurvier trick than in laying thee by the heels, when thou wast yet in a green old age.
From Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
Full many a stranger and from many a land Hath lodged in this old castle, and my hand Served them; but never has there passed this way A scurvier ruffian than our guest to-day.
From Alcestis by Gilbert Murray
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.
