1
as in scratches
to damage by rubbing against a sharp or rough surface
scuffed up her shoes by rubbing her feet under the rung of the chair
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in shuffles
to move heavily or clumsily
the miners scuffed past in heavy boots
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of scuffs
Liam Tharme, New York Times, 17 Aug. 2025
Verb
Liverpool are fortunate that Marcus Tavernier scuffs his shot straight at Alisson.
—Liam Tharme, New York Times, 17 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scuffs
Verb
-
Keep clean door mats inside and outside entrance areas to trap gritty dirt that scratches floors.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
The Spruce,
23 Feb. 2026
-
Records of this meeting clearly indicate that each of these was in dire need of snuggling, as well as Cabinet-level scratches underneath its ears.—
Daniel Engber,
The Atlantic,
22 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Tristan returns home and greets James while Siegfried shuffles the woman out the window.—
Alice Burton,
Vulture,
12 Jan. 2026
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That is not unique — Major League Baseball’s offseason shuffles along at a deliberate pace, just as the Dodgers historically have liked.—
Katie Woo,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The Freight House building creaks and moans underfoot, and passing trains produce little more than a subtle hum.—
Nicole Letts,
Southern Living,
28 Feb. 2026
-
Fennell begins on a black screen and the sound of creaks and moans.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
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To show me, Max reaches a metal pick into a tank of clear water and scrapes a white line that seems to hover in the center of the tank.—
Blair Braverman,
Outside,
3 Mar. 2026
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Meyer helped design a tracking system that scrapes data from Zillow to detect price hikes greater than 10%.—
Jack Flemming,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In 1972, Hannes (Enzo Brumm), a gangly farm boy adrift in a hedonistic haze of hormones and counterculture, stumbles upon a revelation through his contact with a love interest’s geranium.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
4 Mar. 2026
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The woman continues to scream as Jones stumbles in the street and Charles asks him multiple more times to drop the knife.—
Kellie Love,
Hartford Courant,
3 Mar. 2026
Verb
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As skyscrapers towered over them, their cheers, chants and stomps wove through downtown Dallas.—
Jessica Ma,
Dallas Morning News,
18 Feb. 2026
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Idris the Valentine’s cow stomps in the footsteps of Squishmallows’ viral strawberry cow and the subsequent bestselling blueberry cow.—
Jacquelyn Smith,
Parents,
30 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Scuffs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scuffs. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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