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
A lot of people hate him, but at least one person at Arkham, an inmate named Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), with two-tone platinum hair and a gaze of scraggly desperation, adores him.
—
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 4 Sep. 2024
There was scraggly grass in one sand trap and wooden blocks and a toy castle in another, evidence of children at play.
—Cara Buckley, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2024
For the red seaweed Gracilaria gracilis, which grows in scraggly clumps, this is a particular problem.
—Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 28 July 2022
Something really touched me watching the video of a scraggly man on the treadmill and a photograph of an old lady sitting on a grand chair grinning from ear to ear.
—Niha Masih, Washington Post, 18 July 2022
See All Example Sentences for scraggly
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 4 Sep. 2024
There was scraggly grass in one sand trap and wooden blocks and a toy castle in another, evidence of children at play.
—Cara Buckley, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2024
For the red seaweed Gracilaria gracilis, which grows in scraggly clumps, this is a particular problem.
—Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 28 July 2022
Something really touched me watching the video of a scraggly man on the treadmill and a photograph of an old lady sitting on a grand chair grinning from ear to ear.
—Niha Masih, Washington Post, 18 July 2022
See All Example Sentences for scraggly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scraggly
Adjective
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Most of the surface is made up of a fine dust with jagged edges because it hasn’t been weathered by wind or water.—
Jeremy Bogaisky,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
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Against all of this allegedly heady stuff, the score—by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross—intentionally jars us from encroaching drowsiness with chortling woodwinds and shardlike piano chords that are the aural equivalent of jagged Plexiglass off-cuts.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
29 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The original Toxic Avenger was made for chump change and wore its low-budget nature proudly, while this version, which was shot in Bulgaria in 2021 and involves both practical and digital effects, tries to evoke that ragged aesthetic while working with more resources.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
29 Aug. 2025
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Frost is, by reputation, perhaps the foremost poet of rural, non-coastal New England — of birches and apple trees, of forests blanketed in snow, of pastures sliced by ragged stone walls, and of the flinty, self-sufficient kind of temperament that flourishes in those places.—
A.O. Scott,
New York Times,
27 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scraggly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scraggly. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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