scruffy

adjective

ˈskrə-fē 

scruffier; scruffiest

: unkempt, slovenly, shaggy

a scruffy neighborhood

a scruffy beard

scruffily

ˈskrə-fə-lē 

adverb

scruffiness

ˈskrə-fē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• beat-up
• bombed-out
• dilapidated
• dog-eared
• down-at-the-heels
• down-at-heel
• down-at-the-heel
• down-at-heels
• dumpy
• grungy
• mangy
• mean
• miserable
• moth-eaten
• neglected
• ratty
• run-down
• scrubby
• seedy
• shabby
• sleazy
• tacky
• tatterdemalion
• tatty
• threadbare
• timeworn
• tumbledown

Examples of scruffy in a Sentence

The neighborhood is full of dilapidated houses with scruffy backyards.

dressed in scruffy old clothes to clean out the garage

Recent Examples on the Web

Another key difference: an adorably scruffy dog stands at their feet. —Eliza Berman, TIME, 11 Oct. 2024

Celebrity Style This is as scruffy as Victoria Beckham gets. September 24, 2024 All products are independently selected by our editors. —Daniel Rodgers, Glamour, 24 Sep. 2024

The interior grew scruffy and, as a hangout for generations of writers, clammy from the haze of stray storylines left unfinished or unfulfilled under its roof. —Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2024

One evening in the summer of 2022, in Berlin’s scruffy Görlitzer Park, Angel and her close friend and colleague Joshua Leifer spoke of the inevitability of escalation in Israel-Palestine. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

scruff, metathetic variant of scurf (also with senses "something worthless or contemptible, contemptible person") + -y entry 1

First Known Use

1871, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

scruffy

adjective

ˈskrəf-ē 

scruffier; scruffiest

: dirty or shabby in appearance

a scruffy beard