1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

scrofulous

adjective

Definition of scrofulousnext
as in debased

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for scrofulous
  1. debased
  2. corrupt
  3. depraved
  4. degenerate
  5. dissolute
  6. sick
  7. pestilential
  8. perverted
Adjective
  • That wasn’t its only subject; comedy and power and misogyny and creativity and intergenerational conflict and work ethic and, especially in its last few seasons, the debased state of the entertainment industry were all richly explored through lines.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 8 July 2026
  • And this has lent Margot a debased sort of celebrity.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Apr. 2026
Definition of debased
Adjective
  • Even as the country’s leadership grew more corrupt and repressive, Moscow kept getting more dazzling.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Beyond the shimmying visit, the mystery of who killed Victor is expected to motor the sophomore season’s overarching storyline, including digging into people from the corrupt politician’s shady past.
    — Emily Krauser, PEOPLE, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of corrupt
Adjective
  • Chad Powers season 2 Season one, which spun an Eli Manning gimmick video into a sports comedy with Glen Powell as a disgraced college-football star, started to veer in a fascinating, somewhat depraved direction.
    — Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026
  • In the mid-1970s, Slash’s mother, the costume designer Ola Hudson, worked on the American production of The Rocky Horror Show, whose Frank-N-Furter is the unmistakable touchstone of Bourzgui’s David, down to the depraved purr.
    — Sarah Grant, Rolling Stone, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of depraved
Adjective
  • When the discs degenerate, vertebrae lose the spongy buffer between bones, resulting in pain.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Or when some man behaving like a degenerate gambler plods into Chelsea Gray’s DMs with a disgusting slur.
    — Candace Buckner, New York Times, 27 July 2026
Definition of degenerate
Adjective
  • But this replacement adoption has strings attached, in the form of a father (Fabrizio Odetto) who’d already been trying to get Giulia away from his dissolute ex, and is not about to hand her over to some rich third party.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 30 July 2026
  • His untimely death set the template for the doomed, dissolute musician.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 2 July 2026
Definition of dissolute
Adjective
  • As the years go by, babies are born, parents get sick and die, careers are started then ended, wives and husbands are thwarted, and, eventually, sheets are strewn and booties are tapped.
    — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Last August, more than 360 people recently got sick after eating free MBG school lunches in Sragen, Central Java.
    — Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of sick
Adjective
  • Some doctors employed wildly improbable cures when treating these pestilential tumors.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 May 2026
  • Here a book worth considering is ‘From third world to first’ - Lee Kwan Yew's first person story of transforming Singapore from a pestilential swamp into a metropolis.
    — Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes, 17 Dec. 2024
Definition of pestilential
Adjective
  • Tracy Letts plays her perverted husband, while Callum Turner, Jamie Bell, Lukas Gage and Riley Keough star as her very messed up children, and Elle Fanning is Bell’s paramour.
    — Marlow Stern, Variety, 25 July 2026
  • The gravity of the crimes was made apparent not just in the details provided in court documents but by how family members of children at the daycare reacted when the perverted duo appeared in court for their arraignments.
    — Flint McColgan, Boston Herald, 6 June 2026
Definition of perverted
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.

Browse Nearby Words

scriveners
scrofulous
scrooge
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Scrofulous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scrofulous. Accessed 18 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of churlish

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 18
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All