scum
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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But not long after the job was complete, the paint began to visibly peel, and the gleaming waters promptly refilled with green pond scum.
From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026
“I went through four years of hell by this scum that we had to deal with,” Trump said.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2025
The sleepless nights made him feel like a scum had settled over his brain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2024
For most people, the word “algae” evokes puddles of puke-brown scum.
From Science Magazine ● May 21, 2024
Now it’s covered by a layer of green scum and overrun by bullfrogs.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
When this occurs, blue-green algae can form blooms that discolour the water, or produce floating mats or scums on the water's surface.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2025
When this occurs, the algae can form blooms that discolour the water or produce floating mats or scums on the water’s surface.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2024
“You’re in the business of representing scums and trying to make as much money as long as there’s this lapse in the law.”
From Time ● Aug. 6, 2014
In their reproduction they closely resemble the pond scums.
From Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses by Campbell, Douglas Houghton
They are confined to fresh water, and seldom occur in masses of sufficient size to be seen with the naked eye, usually being found associated with pond scums or other filamentous forms.
From Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses by Campbell, Douglas Houghton
A thick mist scummed the windshields as the 39-car motorcade rolled eastward under the grey sky toward Andau, a scant kilometer from the border.
From Time Magazine Archive
The metal was too smooth, and scummed with frost.
From A Matter of Proportion by Walker, Anne
The sea water overside and around the Pole Star was scummed with a film of mush ice.
From The Ice Pilot by Leverage, Henry
On the side table was her after-dinner cup, still full of coffee ... black, scummed with oil droplets, stone-cold.
From Special Delivery by Knight, Damon Francis
At the bridge the shingle bank baulks the stream from a clear course into the sea and usually forces it into an ignominious and green scummed pool that slowly filters through the stony wall.
From Wanderings in Wessex An Exploration of the Southern Realm from Itchen to Otter by Holmes, Edric
The mission stories often guide you through a level’s most unique assassinations, which is a nice gift to players who don’t like engaging in the aggressive, save scumming and trial-and-error obsessiveness those never-be-seen challenges require.
From The Verge ● Jan. 27, 2021
To every pint of juice, add two pounds of powdered loaf-sugar, boiling and scumming it in the same manner as for any other jam or jelly.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849
Boil all these together, till the scum be boiled in, not scumming it.
From The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by MacDonell, Anne
"There is a brain that will endure but one scumming."
From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 6 Letters 1821-1842 by Lamb, Mary
The next day boil it gently, scumming it all the while till no more scum riseth; and if you will clarifie the Liquor with a few beaten whites of Eggs, it will be the clearer.
From The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by MacDonell, Anne
Vocabulary lists containing scum
