scabrous

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective scabrous contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of scabrous are harsh, rough, rugged, and uneven. While all these words mean "not smooth or even," scabrous implies scaliness or prickliness of surface.

a scabrous leaf

Where would harsh be a reasonable alternative to scabrous?

The meanings of harsh and scabrous largely overlap; however, harsh implies a surface or texture distinctly unpleasant to the touch.

a harsh fabric that chafes the skin

When would rough be a good substitute for scabrous?

While in some cases nearly identical to scabrous, rough implies points, bristles, ridges, or projections on the surface.

a rough wooden board

When could rugged be used to replace scabrous?

While the synonyms rugged and scabrous are close in meaning, rugged implies irregularity or roughness of land surface and connotes difficulty of travel.

a rugged landscape

When is it sensible to use uneven instead of scabrous?

The words uneven and scabrous can be used in similar contexts, but uneven implies a lack of uniformity in height, breadth, or quality.

an old house with uneven floors

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of scabrous Jacobs wrote the script with these three actors in mind, which was perhaps shocking news to each of them, who play scabrous women who locate the worst characteristics of each other and then blow them up into throwdown fights. Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 18 Sep. 2024 At nearly three hours, the anthology film was divisive: Some hailed its scabrous take on human nature as brilliant, and others derided it as bloated. Matt Donnelly, Variety, 21 May 2024 This dirty Pommie duo make scabrous gold on UK Grim, their 12th studio album. Spin Staff, SPIN, 12 Dec. 2023 Malcolm is the pressure-release valve in Baumbach's scabrous follow-up to 2005's The Squid and the Whale, and one of many points of contention between Margot and Pauline. Erik Adams, EW.com, 18 July 2023 See All Example Sentences for scabrous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scabrous
Adjective
  • Darrisaw will be McCarthy's primary blindside blocker, so his missing the game would have been troublesome for the second-year passer.
    James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Sep. 2025
  • Let’s aim to stick with the straightforward nomenclature of AI psychosis as the proper phrasing and not meander into a plethora of troublesome variations.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Perhaps the most vexing challenge for American education centers on public perception.
    Blake D. Morant, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Although proximity makes for easier studies, this is counterbalanced against the system’s vexing complexity.
    Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • Decades later, he was declared a vexatious litigant by the High Court, Federal Court and Queensland Supreme Court, a label that barred him from filing any more claims.
    Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 29 Aug. 2025
  • The next morning, there were two vexatious problems.
    Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 27 July 2025
Adjective
  • Of all the bad-hair-day culprits, matted hair can be the most stubborn and frustrating.
    Grace McCarty, Glamour, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Spills can be blotted (never rubbed) with a dry cloth since the fabric is non-absorptive, and for more stubborn stains, dry cleaning is recommended.
    Zoë Sessums, Architectural Digest, 4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Then there were the ghoulish figures of revolutionary adventurers, the Mexican painter with two pistols in his belt, the men who were carving themselves careers out of these troublous times.
    John Dos Passos, National Review, 28 Sep. 2020
Adjective
  • There is nothing more worrisome to astrology lovers than retrogrades.
    Lisa Stardust, Refinery29, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Trump’s inflammatory language and verbal attacks on city and state leaders carry immense weight and are worrisome.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • For engineers and designers, this framework is like giving a GPS map through the complex terrain of foam design—saving months of trial-and-error testing.
    Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2025
  • The move would mark an important milestone for Nvidia -backed Cohesity, which shelved IPO plans in 2021 to first execute a complex merger with its rival Veritas’ data protection unit, according to Cohesity CEO Sanjay Poonen.
    Ganesh Rao, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • This includes courses such as the notoriously recondite organic chemistry as well as biology, general chemistry, and physics.
    Richard Menger MD MPA, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
  • Social Security’s internal workings are so recondite and poorly understood by average voters that numerous possible ways of imposing benefit cuts or otherwise harming the program are hiding in plain sight.
    Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 26 Nov. 2024

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Cite this Entry

“Scabrous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scabrous. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

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