SCABBY Synonyms: 79 Similar and Opposite Words

scabby

adjective

ˈska-bē

Definition of scabby

as in lame

arousing or deserving of one's loathing and disgust that's a scabby trick to play on someone trying to help

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of scabby One of the most common is apple scab, which is a fungal disease that causes dark, scabby spots to appear on the leaves and fruit. — Helena Madden, Martha Stewart, 31 May 2026 Wheat can be treated to remove scabby kernels. — Tom W. Allen, The Conversation, 12 Nov. 2025 Darken and thicken it for old and scabby goop. — Mark Hay, Popular Science, 9 Oct. 2025 There were the same cars on the blocks, the clotheslines, and the scabby back yards. — Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2025 As buzzy, crowd-pleasing indie comedies got snatched up for millions, the festival's scabby mutant black sheep went untouched, until horror-specific streaming service Shudder stepped in. — Charles Bramesco, Esquire, 20 July 2017 People walk up and try to grab a sample with dirty, bleeding, scabby hands not realizing that other people will also be sampling that food. — Abigail Van Buren, Twin Cities, 31 Mar. 2017

Recent Examples of Synonyms for scabby

Adjective

Blumenthal hopes to see action on KOSA in the lame-duck session.

— Lisa Hagen, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026
Only to see them, after winning elections, get strong-armed by the party, then offer lame excuses as to why.

— Colleen Kujawa, Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of lame

Adjective

The concentration of quaternary ammonia in the bucket with sanitizer is low (<100 ppm) and the water is visibly dirty.

— NWA Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online, 19 Oct. 2026
Many of the strongest initial applications are the dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks that go unfilled, contribute to injuries, and pull people away from higher-value judgment and exception handling.

— Navin Chaddha, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of dirty

Adjective

Investors now see access to cheap and reliable power as a precondition for European companies to compete long-term.

— Sophie Dembinski, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
Telehealth sites hit their first jackpot in the 2010s, when Viagra and other drugs for erectile dysfunction came off patent, allowing for the sale of cheaper generics.

— Anna Cooban, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of cheap

Adjective

The polls still show a close-range contest, but in the increasingly nasty ad war, the spending suggests a far more lopsided fight.

— Philip Elliott, Time, 19 Oct. 2026
Officers then cuffed the youngster as he was loaded into an ambulance and hospitalized for a fractured femur and a nasty bruise on his head, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by the teen’s dad, Mahmoud Saleh, in Brooklyn Federal Court.

— John Annese, New York Daily News, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of nasty

Adjective

The Vatican typically allows criminal investigations to play out before initiating canonical trials so as not to interfere, and that is especially so now in Australia, after the church's wretched legacy there of abuse and cover-up.

— ABC News, ABC News, 9 Oct. 2026
But the warmth of her hand on his skin only made Shawn feel more wretched.

— Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026

Definition of wretched

Adjective

That’s likely to inspire either affection or immediate exhaustion, depending on your fondness for the infamously disgusting performance group.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 8 Oct. 2026
People tend to think of waste as trash, sewage, slag, manure and other seemingly useless or disgusting substances.

— Edward D. Melillo, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2026

Definition of disgusting

Adjective

The last time a streak had a mean reading that high was during a period ending in the 1980s.

— Alex Harring, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2026
For this leaner, meaner Deafheaven, stylistic variety takes a backseat to speed and chaos, and when properly executed, subtle melodic or rhythmic tweaks wield the heft of the more tectonic transitions in the band’s defining songs.

— Patrick Lyons, Pitchfork, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of mean

Browse Nearby Words

scab

scabby

scabrous

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“Scabby.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scabby. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of scabby

adjective

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