shaggy
Americanadjective
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having or covered with rough unkempt fur, hair, wool, etc
a shaggy dog
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rough or unkempt
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(in textiles) having a nap of long rough strands
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of shaggy
Explanation
Shaggy things are messy, thick, and rough. Your long-haired mixed breed dog might be shaggy, while your sister's sleek Siamese cat isn't shaggy at all. Shaggy almost always describes an animal's fur or a person's unruly hair. A well-loved stuffed animal might be soft and shaggy, and your brother's curly hair is especially shaggy when he first rolls out of bed in the morning. On the cartoon "Scooby Doo," Scooby's best friend is a goofy, shaggy-haired guy named Shaggy. Shaggy followed the earlier adjective shagged, from the Old English sceacgede, or "hairy."
Vocabulary lists containing shaggy
Shear Genius: Hairy Vocabulary
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"Holding Up the Sky" and "The Girl and the Chenoo"
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I Survived the Wellington Avalanche, 1910
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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:
And one might even trace today’s would-be Rhaena Targaryens — and Daenerys emulators, we know you’re out there — to that shaggy flying dog.
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026
Having just nabbed the Pulitzer Prize, Bess Wohl’s where-did-the-feminist-movement-go-wrong? play “Liberation” seems the likely winner, and a worthy one, despite its shaggy and digressive structure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Giant anteaters have black and white diagonal stripes, dense shaggy hair and super-sized snouts.
From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2026
Rhodamnia zombi is described as a small to medium sized tree with large dark green leaves, shaggy bark, and fuzzy white flowers.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2026
He stuck his shaggy snout into my neck and shivered.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Although Fredo, who was born in Estonia, bears some resemblance to an African leopard, Mr Mee said he is a "little taller with longer legs and a shaggier face".
From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2023
The reaction to the shaggier look appears to be mixed.
From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2023
It’s bigger, shaggier and a bit messier than its predecessor, and while it bears other fun similarities to “Scream 2,” mentioning more ventures into spoiler territory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2023
He predicted that smaller and less furry dogs could eventually be preferred over bigger, shaggier hounds that are prone to overheating and consuming more resources.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2021
His hair had gone from close-cropped Roman style to longer and shaggier.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
But the actors turned writer-directors have done their homework, setting up a “Friday the 13th” riff with a dash of “Wet Hot American Summer” that jokes its way through its shaggiest corners.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2023
Bobby’s hair had grown longer every year of the 1960s; now, at forty-two, he had the shaggiest hair in the United States Senate.
From MSNBC ● Nov. 7, 2017
The angriest and shaggiest man between the horizon and the nearest dust cloud is a fellow named Eric, played by Guy Pearce.
From New York Times ● Jun. 12, 2014
If the answer was Andrea Zuckerman, the shaggiest of the 90210 girls, that meant you had some work to do in the coming weeks.
From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2013
Looking out, she saw the cutest, shaggiest little pony standing on her front lawn!
From "Pony Problems: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #3" by Carolyn Keene
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.
