as in dilapidated
showing signs of advanced wear and tear and neglect
dressed in scruffy old clothes to clean out the garage
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of scruffy
How did a scruffy comedy about five of TV’s all-time-worst human beings last this long and do so well?
—
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 22 June 2025
Both pups have one floppy ear and a scruffy coat that begs to be cuddled.
—Kelli Bender, People.com, 20 June 2025
On a sunny April afternoon in Seattle, around 40 activists gathered at the Pine Box, a beer and pizza bar in the sometimes scruffy Capitol Hill neighborhood.
—Aarian Marshall, Wired News, 16 June 2025
In a thoroughly awful game, Spurs played poorly but managed to just about sneak past Manchester United with an incredibly scruffy goal.
—Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for scruffy
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 22 June 2025
Both pups have one floppy ear and a scruffy coat that begs to be cuddled.
—Kelli Bender, People.com, 20 June 2025
On a sunny April afternoon in Seattle, around 40 activists gathered at the Pine Box, a beer and pizza bar in the sometimes scruffy Capitol Hill neighborhood.
—Aarian Marshall, Wired News, 16 June 2025
In a thoroughly awful game, Spurs played poorly but managed to just about sneak past Manchester United with an incredibly scruffy goal.
—Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for scruffy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scruffy
Adjective
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Next to a dormant pumpkin farm, the factory, which had once made tubing for hoses, had burned in the nineties; all that remained were four dilapidated and grafittied walls.—
Megan Cummins
August 5,
Literary Hub,
5 Aug. 2025
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The demolition of the jail this year opened the door to redeveloping the dilapidated building.—
Alysa Guffey,
IndyStar,
29 July 2025
Adjective
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Close the Loop Following through on commitments is the simplest and yet shockingly most neglected way to earn long-term trust.—
Serenity Gibbons,
Forbes.com,
31 July 2025
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But its location in the neglected and overgrown space remains a mystery.—
Laura L. Davis,
The Tennessean,
2 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scruffy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scruffy. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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