1
as in to scratch
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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to shuffle
to move heavily or clumsily
the miners scuffed past in heavy boots
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of scuff
Liam Twomey, The Athletic, 9 Aug. 2024
The bookends are sturdy and weighty to prevent slipping, and feature padded bases that won’t scuff up furniture.
—Tim Chan, Variety, 10 Dec. 2024
Theresa Holland, Travel + Leisure, 11 Feb. 2025
Shoes For smooth and hard-surfaced shoes that are full of scuffs and stains, use fine-grade steel wool to renew their appearance.
—Halee Miller Van Ryswyk, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scuff
Verb
With two City attackers converging in his field of vision, Tosin tries to play a first-time pass with his weaker left foot to Romeo Lavia, but instead scuffs it to the onrushing Jack Grealish.
—Liam Twomey, The Athletic, 9 Aug. 2024
The bookends are sturdy and weighty to prevent slipping, and feature padded bases that won’t scuff up furniture.
—Tim Chan, Variety, 10 Dec. 2024
Noun
The Zipper Carry-on Max proved very durable in our tests, showing only minor superficial scuffs and no dents at all after whacking it with a metal baseball bat and shoving it multiple times off a table while fully packed.
—Theresa Holland, Travel + Leisure, 11 Feb. 2025
Shoes For smooth and hard-surfaced shoes that are full of scuffs and stains, use fine-grade steel wool to renew their appearance.
—Halee Miller Van Ryswyk, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scuff
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scuff
Verb
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But the contradiction was apparent for anyone willing to scratch the surface: the three public suspensions and one defection from the Pentagon’s top ranks were all, until very recently, Hegseth loyalists.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
22 Apr. 2025
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The surface of a cat tree is usually covered in a textured, carpet-like material for scratching.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
21 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Then, around 200 million years ago, Pangaea began splitting apart, a geological breakup that formed the Atlantic Ocean, and eastern North America shuffled toward its current position on the globe.—
Alexandra Witze,
JSTOR Daily,
24 Apr. 2025
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The Phillies can shuffle their rotation with the benefit of two upcoming off days.—
Matt Gelb,
New York Times,
23 Apr. 2025
Noun
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My assumption is that most rational human beings would happily stay in a warm and cozy office and simply listen to the building creak and groan under the force of the violent gusts.—
Frederick Dreier,
Outside Online,
11 Mar. 2025
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The set is a ship’s deck that tilts and creaks ominously while a screen plays eerily textured footage of a roiling ocean.—
Houman Barekat,
New York Times,
24 Feb. 2025
Verb
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If another caterpillar wanders into their territory, these tiny critters start furiously drumming their heads, shaking their bodies and scraping their butts against the leaf—a series of complex vibratory behaviors to signal that their leaf tip is off-limits.—
Rohini Subrahmanyam,
Scientific American,
22 Apr. 2025
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Sifting and scraping toxic particles would only further the ongoing coastal erosion, which is its own climate change impact.—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Malone was more willing to lean on the trio of second-year players this year, but the Nuggets have gotten stomped in their minutes without three-time MVP Nikola Jokić.—
Bryan Toporek,
Forbes.com,
9 Apr. 2025
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John and Carlile get loud here, stomping and slamming around for a tight little radio-length banger. 75.—
Shana Naomi Krochmal,
Vulture,
4 Apr. 2025
Noun
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One great thing about Hackman is that there was no alteration in the rounded rasp of his voice when the moral conditions changed.—
Anthony Lane,
The New Yorker,
3 Mar. 2025
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The soft rasp of her voice was a surprise, deeper than Sam would have expected from someone so small.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
EW.com,
12 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Woman Makes 'Creepy' Find In Thrift Store By Alice Gibbs Senior Life and Trends Reporter Newsweek Is A Trust Project Member news article 0 A thrift store shopper from Scotland stumbled on something unexpected in her local store when a beautiful glass paperweight caught her eye.—
Arick Wierson,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Apr. 2025
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Contractors renovating a historic home in Belgium stumbled upon the entrance to a secret tunnel identified by archaeologists as an escape route from World War I.—
Aspen Pflughoeft,
Miami Herald,
14 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scuff.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scuff. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025.
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