as in jagged
having an uneven edge or outline
a scraggly little tree
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of scraggly
For hikers and residents, the steel lattice towers rising from the horizon carrying high-voltage transmission lines up and over the mountains are as recognizable as the bucolic dirt paths, scraggly chapparal, and, at slightly higher elevations, old oaks.
—
Literary Hub, 8 Jan. 2026
The marker was tucked among scraggly mountain mahogany.
—Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 7 Jan. 2026
Four inches of scraggly strands had to go.
—Shannon Bauer, InStyle, 3 Jan. 2026
Wearing a colorful polka-dot shirt, a red tie, and voluminous rainbow pants, with her hair cut in a scraggly mullet, Sherman, who is thirty-two, delivered a performance that was almost entirely given over to an abrasive discussion of the abjectness of the human body—mostly her own.
—Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scraggly
Literary Hub, 8 Jan. 2026
The marker was tucked among scraggly mountain mahogany.
—Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 7 Jan. 2026
Four inches of scraggly strands had to go.
—Shannon Bauer, InStyle, 3 Jan. 2026
Wearing a colorful polka-dot shirt, a red tie, and voluminous rainbow pants, with her hair cut in a scraggly mullet, Sherman, who is thirty-two, delivered a performance that was almost entirely given over to an abrasive discussion of the abjectness of the human body—mostly her own.
—Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scraggly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scraggly
Adjective
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Many of Iceland’s pools are immersed in nature, combining water therapy with dramatic landscapes of jagged mountains, waterfalls, rivers, and lava fields.—
Lauren Breedlove,
Outside,
3 Mar. 2026
-
Two cars teetered at the jagged edge, their noses tipped skyward, almost frozen in the instant before a plunge.—
Ira Gorawara,
New York Times,
28 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Use clean, sharp pruners to cut a smooth edge right above a living bud, lateral branch, or along the trunk where there is a ragged break.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
22 Feb. 2026
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In the absence of pro hoops, ABC found itself with a ragged hole in its Sunday afternoon schedule, which an exec named Dick Button proposed to fill by way of a new show titled The Superstars.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
16 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Scraggly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scraggly. Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.
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