straggly
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of straggly
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.
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Two years ago, he turned several straggly islands off Miami into blooming lily pads by surrounding them with hot-pink fabric.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
His hair was a mess of seaweed, the straggly green strands bobbing up and down on the surface of the water.
From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2024
His floor-length fur is straggly and windblown, giving him a disheveled look incongruent with this toy breed’s stereotypical silky-smooth fur and ribbons in their hair.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2023
A soft, golden light filtered through twisted trees draped with a straggly yellow-green lichen called “old man’s beard,” giving the glens a magical air.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022
The orchid shed is full of straggly blossoms.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
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It wasn’t too long before we were all stretched out, a long and straggling line that got longer and stragglier the farther we went.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
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In the last and straggliest of those streets which runs along the sea like a sea-wall there is a very honest but rather sharp-tempered member of my flock, a widow called MacNab.
From The Wisdom of Father Brown by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
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.