scruffy
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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Indiana is in many ways a liminal state, the place you pass through between scruffy Cleveland and business-like Chicago, with little to inspire romantic odes to home.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
The tension between instinct and domesticity is at the heart of almost all canine fiction, including three scruffy, intriguing books from this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
His hair, previously dyed jet black, had gone entirely silver and his thick mustache had been replaced by a scruffy beard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
"It was pretty tough this morning. Feel like I hit some pretty scruffy golf shots, which in some ways is to be expected."
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
His beard is all matted because he ain’t combed it in months, and it makes him look old and scruffy.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
“Drive-Away Dolls” might suggest a return to a scruffier sensibility.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2024
The mug shot posted by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office appears to show the same person as in the shot posted on Mr. Jurgens’ LinkedIn account, although he looks considerably scruffier in the arrest photo.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 6, 2023
During the pandemic, he has traded his Washington-based policy wonk look with a trimmed beard and buzzed hair for a shaggier and scruffier look to fit a Colorado mountain man.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 8, 2021
In the ’70s, when I was in high school, I feel like it was the scruffier, surfer/skier kids who wore them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2018
There are scruffier models where the cars have been blandly renovated but the antique controls remain, and imperfectly maintained ones that shudder and jerk as the elevator man flips the lever.
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2017
She remembered being staggered by the size and opulence of the home, while Sullivan was at his desk "wearing the scruffiest tracksuit".
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
In the early days of their rise, the Stones were the most notorious, scruffiest band of hit-makers in the U.K., where one tabloid headline famously asked, “Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2019
Wild” has been on the air since 2006, he insists he hired a publicist last year “so I don’t have to do P.R.,” and that he’s “still always the scruffiest person at any meeting.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2012
For an hour and 13 minutes the converted Russian tuna boat chased one of the mightiest ships of the Seventh Fleet; in turn, it was chased by one of the scruffiest vessels in the U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
She looked down and saw the scruffiest face looking back, a small dog that apparently had been assembled from leftover dog parts.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
Vocabulary lists containing scruffy
