Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having or covered with scales or small projections and rough to the touch.
  • adjective Dealing with scandalous or salacious material.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Rough; rugged; having sharp points or little asperities.
  • Harsh; unmusical.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Rough to the touch, like a file; having small raised dots, scales, or points; scabby; scurfy; scaly.
  • adjective rare Fig.: Harsh; unmusical.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective covered with scales or scabs, or otherwise extremely rough
  • adjective having indecent sexual content or connotation, rough
  • adjective figuratively harsh; unmusical

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective rough to the touch; covered with scales or scurf
  • adjective dealing with salacious or indecent material

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin scabrōsus, from scaber, scabr-, scurfy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin scabrosus.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word scabrous.

Examples

  • The "works on paper" are fascinating: weird and offhand enough to make you doubt they're from Bacon's hand, but also just the kind of scabrous visual notes an artist like Bacon -- who didn't draw much -- would have warmed up to paint with.

    True Value 2008

  • Political and journalistic combatants who knew each other socially usually restrained themselves from the kind of scabrous public attack Americans now find so objectionable.

    Where The Elite Met 2008

  • On a side note, never have I seen so many reviews spontaneously choose to use the word "scabrous" at once. link

    Assorted Film News Greg Tannahill 2006

  • On a side note, never have I seen so many reviews spontaneously choose to use the word "scabrous" at once. link

    Archive 2006-07-01 Greg Tannahill 2006

  • The base color of these dull boxes was an equally dull grey; where in the past people had tried to apply paint, either to cover the entire building or as crude advertisements, the paint remained only in patches, as if the buildings had some kind of scabrous disease.

    The Eagle And The Nightingale Lackey, Mercedes 1995

  • Despite the subject and the title, there is nothing in the least "scabrous" in it.

    A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century George Saintsbury 1889

  • But here, "scabrous" as the subject might be, the treatment is scrupulously

    A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 George Saintsbury 1889

  • a tenth part of the popularity of his more "scabrous" things, though itself is very far from prudish, and though it makes no appearance in some lists and collections of his work.

    A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century George Saintsbury 1889

  • "scabrous" part of the matter by the author of Diderot's other books.

    A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 George Saintsbury 1889

  • Its scabrous skin swelled outward, and its eerie face grew larger and stranger, and its blood-spitting eyes became crystal-shooting eyes.

    GuildWars Edge of Destiny J. Robert King 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Scabrous bark.

    March 2, 2009