as in dirty
arousing or deserving of one's loathing and disgust
the jury was disgusted by the scummy behavior of the defendant in the courtroom
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scummy
Adjective
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The checklist for cleaning the kitchen was probably just washing dirty dishes, wiping down countertops, and mopping the floors.—
Elizabeth Brownfield, Southern Living, 7 Jan. 2026
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Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty.—
Adjective
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His other go-to bogeyman, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, is now firmly in his lame-duck era as his term ends this spring.—
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Your ultra-lame social media posts (with awful production values) don’t cut it by a Colorado mile high.—
Adjective
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Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have designed a new sodium-sulfur battery with higher power density and discharge capacity than before, enabling a cheaper, safer alternative to lithium-ion batteries.—
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Fentanyl is cheap, compact, and lethal at microscopic doses, produced through decentralized networks designed to survive disruption.—
Adjective
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Mercy came via a bye week, the pitiful Raiders and an inept Cowboys defense.—
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Writer-director Craig Brewer resists the temptation to make Mike and Claire in any way pitiful or worthy of derision.—
Adjective
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Richards has missed Palace’s previous four fixtures after picking up a nasty foot injury against Leeds in the Premier League just before Christmas.—
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Ra Shaya Kyle, feeling miserable with a nasty cold that kept her out of practice for two days, scored a career-high 30 points to lead the University of Miami women’s basketball team to an 89-73 win over rival Florida State University on Sunday afternoon at the Watsco Center.—
Adjective
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The medical ordeals are traumatic and disgusting, but fascinating and full of the quirks of modern life.—
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Having snow, slush, and (eventually) water all over my floors was a disgusting feeling.—
Adjective
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Anyone who’s survived to 2026 knows the upper class’ fictitious fantasies still carry real, wretched consequences for the rest of us, but Season 4 plays out those ongoing scenarios to the nth degree, while condensing them into an appreciable narrative arc.—
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The foodborne virus, which causes a wretched illness, continues to plague adults, particularly people who are homeless or who abuse drugs or alcohol, with a total of 1,648 cases and 85 deaths reported in 2023.—
Adjective
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His new one tells the story of a young woman sent from the afterlife to guide a hateful oil baron through the process of dying — and what comes next.—
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Increasingly common, but not commonplace Greller describes threats and hateful rhetoric as a big problem that's becoming more frequent, but not commonplace.—
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Cite this Entry
“Scummy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scummy. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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