scabrous

adjective sca·brous \ ˈska-brəs also ˈskā- \

Definition of scabrous

1 : difficult, knotty

a scabrous problem

2 : rough to the touch: such as

a : having small raised dots, scales, or points

a scabrous leaf

b : covered with raised, roughened, or unwholesome patches

scabrous paint

scabrous skin

3 : dealing with suggestive, indecent, or scandalous themes : salacious; also : squalid

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scabrously

adverb

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scabrousness

noun

See scabrous defined for English-language learners

Examples of scabrous in a Sentence

a movie with scabrous humor

Recent Examples of scabrous from the Web

Outside Ebbing, Missouri From writer-director Martin McDonagh, a timely if scabrous story about a small-town woman (Frances McDormand) taunting the cops (Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell) who have failed to solve her daughter's murder.

— Philly.com, "Movies: New and Noteworthy," 19 Feb. 2018
Nicole Eisenman, the witty and sometimes scabrous New York painter, is represented by a macabre painting of a Passover Seder, in which a young child stabs her gefilte fish with a serial killer’s élan.

— jason farago, New York Times, "A Museum’s Fresh Take on the Whole Megillah," 25 Jan. 2018
Media coverage of the new new left has tended to view predominantly white cultural types — scabrous podcast hosts, brittle little magazines — as its vanguard.

— frank guan, Daily Intelligencer, "Could a Democratic Socialist Actually Win a Spot on City Council?," 5 Nov. 2017
Then again, Becker’s lyrics were as scabrous and sarcastic as Warren Zevon’s, which is the right kind of tonic for a band who painstakingly assembled the drum track for Gaucho’s title tune out of 46 separate takes.

— dan weiss, Billboard, "The 15 Greatest Steely Dan Songs," 3 Sep. 2017
Everyone from presidents and county officials to celebrities and Greek gods was celebrated or excoriated with scabrous glee.

— donald frazier, Washington Post, "M.T. Liggett, who lined a highway with politically provocative art, dies at 86," 26 Aug. 2017
Along the way, no small pleasure is to be had from the amusing, sometimes scabrous, satirical portraiture of illustrious figures.

— nicholas dames, New York Times, "A Postmodern Buddy-Cop Novel Sends Up the World of Semiotics," 16 Aug. 2017
Directed by Alethea Jones and written by Julie Yaeger Rudd, this scabrous take on suburban ennui hits a lot of familiar notes with its story of bored mothers getting together to cut loose.

— noel murray, latimes.com, "New video: 'Colossal' is saved by the top-flight cast of Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis and Dan Stevens," 29 July 2017
Excremental flourishes notwithstanding, that gloriously scabrous picture also kick-started the careers of its director and stars, most of whom are back to illustrate the consequences of a misspent youth.

— jeannette catsoulis, New York Times, "Review: ‘T2 Trainspotting’: Once Defiantly Wretched, Now Worn Down," 16 Mar. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scabrous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of scabrous

Latin scabr-, scaber rough, scurfy; akin to Latin scabere to scratch — more at scab

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1646

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of scabrous

rough, harsh, uneven, rugged, scabrous mean not smooth or even. rough implies points, bristles, ridges, or projections on the surface.

- a rough wooden board

harsh implies a surface or texture distinctly unpleasant to the touch.

- a harsh fabric that chafes the skin

uneven implies a lack of uniformity in height, breadth, or quality.

- an old house with uneven floors

rugged implies irregularity or roughness of land surface and connotes difficulty of travel.

- a rugged landscape

scabrous implies scaliness or prickliness of surface.

- a scabrous leaf

SCABROUS Defined for English Language Learners

scabrous

adjective

Definition of scabrous for English Language Learners

: having a rough surface
: referring to sex in a rude or shocking way

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Definition of scabrous

scabrously

scabrousness

Examples of scabrous in a Sentence

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Origin and Etymology of scabrous

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SCABROUS Defined for English Language Learners

scabrous

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scabrously

scabrousness

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scabrous

Definition of scabrous for English Language Learners

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