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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Recent Examples of scruffy
Hostaria San Pietro’s is hand-written on a scruffy piece of paper, according to the fisherman’s catch—cod, shrimp, squid.
—
Rosalyn Wikeley, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2026
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a scruffy former revolutionary desperate to find his teen daughter (Chase Infiniti) with an old enemy (Sean Penn) in hot pursuit.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 9 Jan. 2026
Advertisement See, for example, the opening scene of Old Boy, which begins with scruffy-haired protagonist Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) holding a man by the tie from the rooftop of a Seoul building.
—Kayti Burt, Time, 18 Dec. 2025
During his initial court appearance on Friday, Cole appeared briefly before Upadhyaya wearing a khaki jail jumpsuit and sporting a scruffy mustache.
—Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scruffy
Rosalyn Wikeley, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2026
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a scruffy former revolutionary desperate to find his teen daughter (Chase Infiniti) with an old enemy (Sean Penn) in hot pursuit.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 9 Jan. 2026
Advertisement See, for example, the opening scene of Old Boy, which begins with scruffy-haired protagonist Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) holding a man by the tie from the rooftop of a Seoul building.
—Kayti Burt, Time, 18 Dec. 2025
During his initial court appearance on Friday, Cole appeared briefly before Upadhyaya wearing a khaki jail jumpsuit and sporting a scruffy mustache.
—Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scruffy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scruffy
Adjective
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Volunteers will spend the morning working on a number of projects downtown, with the potential list including painting the dilapidated former Greyhound Bus station site on Almaden Boulevard and working on the Guadalupe River Park trails.—
Sal Pizarro,
Mercury News,
21 Jan. 2026
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Among his best successes, Xintiandi -- launched in a dilapidated part of central Shanghai in the 1990s -- is today an iconic tourist and nightlife district that attracts thousands of visitors daily to retail spots that range from lululemon to Shake Shack.—
Russell Flannery,
Forbes.com,
17 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The department issued heavy fines and ultimately shuttered a neglected building in Denver’s uptown neighborhood last year that was owned by CBZ Management.—
Sam Tabachnik,
Denver Post,
8 Jan. 2026
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The narrative highlights the growing, unseen populations of lonely and neglected individuals, shedding light on a vital but often ignored aspect of public care.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scruffy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scruffy. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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