English Dictionary |
SCRUBBY (scrubbier, scrubbiest)
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
IPA (US): |
Dictionary entry overview: What does scrubby mean?
• SCRUBBY (adjective)
The adjective SCRUBBY has 2 senses:
1. sparsely covered with stunted trees or vegetation and underbrush
2. inferior in size or quality
Familiarity information: SCRUBBY used as an adjective is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Declension: comparative and superlative |
Sense 1
Meaning:
Sparsely covered with stunted trees or vegetation and underbrush
Synonyms:
scrabbly; scrubby
Context example:
open scrubby woods
Similar:
wooded (covered with growing trees and bushes etc)
Derivation:
scrub (dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes)
scrubbiness (the property of being stunted and inferior in size or quality)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Inferior in size or quality
Synonyms:
Context example:
old stunted thorn trees
Similar:
inferior (of low or inferior quality)
Derivation:
scrubbiness (the property of being stunted and inferior in size or quality)
Context examples
He stared at me with a hopeless expression upon his vacuous, good-natured, scrubby little face.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I should be very happy, aunt; but Brighton is almost by Beachey Head; and if I could get so far, I could not expect to be welcome in such a smart place as that—poor scrubby midshipman as I am.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Learn English with... Proverbs |
"It is less of a problem to be poor, than to be dishonest." (Native American proverb, Anishinabe)
"He who plants thorns must never expect to gather roses." (Arabic proverb)
"From children and drunks will you hear the truth." (Danish proverb)