scratching 1 of 2

scratching

2 of 2

verb

present participle of scratch
1
as in scraping
to damage by rubbing against a sharp or rough surface scratched his arm on a branch

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
as in rubbing
to pass roughly and noisily over or against a surface the branches of the willow tree scratch against the windowpane whenever the wind blows

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

3
as in scribbling
to write or draw hastily or carelessly scratched a quick doodle in the margins

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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 scratching
Verb
But that’s just scratching the surface – addressing only the symptoms of the underlying challenges and only addressing them at the end of the SDLC process. Jeremy Vaughan, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024 Similar to a sheet pan, whole meals can be built in a Dutch oven, scratching that same itch for convenience and less clean up. Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 23 Dec. 2024 By scratching beneath the surface to uncover these positive attributes, spies are able to forge connections with even the most seemingly reprehensible individuals. Jeremy Hurewitz, TIME, 21 Dec. 2024 Elf is a modern Christmas classic, but one of its most head-scratching yet hilarious moments almost ended up on the cutting room floor. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 20 Dec. 2024 Much information can be gleaned from a natal chart, like astrology’s Big Three—the Sun, Moon and Rising (or Ascendant) signs—and this is just scratching the surface. Jessica Ourisman, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024 But these forms of AI are only scratching the surface of what’s possible. Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN, 19 Dec. 2024 Despite being heavier than plastic or acrylic, glass is easier to clean without scratching, though plastic containers can also work. Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 19 Dec. 2024 And that's just scratching the surface. Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 7 Dec. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scratching
Adjective
  • As for the skirt, the upper portion was adorned with glass beads strings, and metallic white yarn.
    Essence, Essence, 9 May 2025
  • Korab suggests sleek metallic bands, iridescent ribbon, or even chains, pearls, or beads wrapping around the ponytail’s base.
    Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, 9 May 2025
Adjective
  • For the next hour or so, several of them will summit various routes along the cliff's steep, jagged face.
    Sean Clancy, Arkansas Online, 12 May 2025
  • Grok 3: The wind howled through the jagged spires of the Frostfang Reaches, carrying a chill that bit deeper than any blade, and Ser Willem Cray felt its teeth in his bones.
    Kelsey Piper, Vox, 12 May 2025
Verb
  • Helped by the transaxle layout, the massive power gains, and sublime styling inside and out, the Vantage also requires less of the sacrifices dictated by low-slung mid-engine supercars that demand constant vigilance to avoid scraping on speed bumps, rough canyon roads, or driveways.
    Michael Teo Van Runkle, Forbes, 29 Dec. 2024
  • The scraping sensations shouldn't be painful but may feel slightly uncomfortable.
    Carley Millhone, Health, 27 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Their bathroom floor also pooled with water after showering, and noise from other apartments, like the shrill beeps of a low-battery smoke detector next door, carried through the paper-thin walls.
    Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 22 Apr. 2025
  • As such, The Studio is shrill and talky, its chaotic scenes sparked by random performers like Charlize Theron, Zac Efron, Olivia Wilde and Sarah Polley, all of whom want something from Remick.
    Peter Bart, Deadline, 10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • What spooks Vara is that A.I. writes what are possibly her essay’s most piercing lines.
    Dwight Garner, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025
  • Only Jean-Baptiste could make such a screed so funny, so piercing and so devastating.
    Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • The Miz, often derided as a wrestler for his flamboyant and grating onscreen personality, is few people’s idea of a WrestleMania main-event talent, so his win makes the 27th event stand out as kind of an oddity.
    Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 21 Apr. 2025
  • His political opponents viewed him as grating, uncooperative, and at times dogmatic.
    Daniel R. DePetris, Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • But that came to a screeching halt during a winter ski trip with his family when Quesnell suffered a compression fracture of a vertebra in his back and a break in the bottom right loop of his hip.
    Ashley Mackin Solomon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 May 2025
  • The game came to a screeching halt in the top of the sixth.
    Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 14 May 2025
Adjective
  • The most jarring and overlooked illustration of the CCP's pervasive influence and investment is mere miles off the southeast coast of the U.S. in the Caribbean islands.
    Tom Rogers, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Apr. 2025
  • For young children explicit content can be quite upsetting, shocking, and jarring.
    Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR, 30 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Scratching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scratching. Accessed 20 May. 2025.

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