Word.ws English Dictionary

scarify

UK/ˈskæ.ɹɪˌfaɪ/

scarify verb: to remove thatch (build-up of organic matter on the soil) from a lawn, to dethatch.

Verb (1)

scarify (third-person singular simple present scarifies, present participle scarifying, simple past and past participle scarified)

  1. To remove thatch (build-up of organic matter on the soil) from a lawn, to dethatch.
  2. To make scratches or cuts on.
    • A combing tool is used to scarify, cross-scratch, or score the surface of a scratch coat or undercoat of plaster.
    1. To damage the testa (seed coat) of a seed by cutting, scraping, chemicals, hot water, or fire to allow permeation of water and faster germination.
    2. To break up, loosen, or roughen the surface of a field or road or a hard surface.
    3. To scratch, etch, burn, or cut designs into one's skin as a form of body modification.
      • Stan tried to scarify his neck with a rope
        His plan kinda failed, but it would've been dope2008, Neil Cicierega, “Modify”, in View-Monster, performed by Lemon Demon
  3. (figuratively) To harrow the feelings.
  4. (nonstandard, obsolete) To scar.
  5. (nonstandard, obsolete) Denude, or lay waste to.

Verb (2)

scarify (third-person singular simple present scarifies, present participle scarifying, simple past and past participle scarified)

  1. (uncommon) To frighten; to scare, to terrify.

scarify meaning in Kannada

scarify in Kannada

ಚುಚ್ಚು, ಗೀರು, ಚುಚ್ಚಿ ರಕ್ತತೆಗೆ, ಚರ್ಮ ಕತ್ತರಿಸಿ ಹಾಕು, ಚುರ್ಚಿನುಡಿ, ಚುಚ್ಚಿನುಡಿ

Forms of scarify

third-person singular presentscarifies
present participlescarifying
past participlescarified
pastscarified

Origin of scarify

From French scarifier, from Late Latin scarificāre, from Latin scarifāre (“to scarify”), from Ancient Greek σκαριφᾶσθαι (skariphâsthai, “scratch”), from σκάριφος (skáriphos, “writing, drawing, sketching”). Unrelated to scar.

From scare + -ify.

Words formed from scarify

Questions about scarify

What does scarify mean?
Scarify means to remove thatch (build-up of organic matter on the soil) from a lawn, to dethatch.
What is scarify in Kannada?
Scarify in Kannada is ಚುಚ್ಚು, ಗೀರು, ಚುಚ್ಚಿ ರಕ್ತತೆಗೆ. See Scarify meaning in Kannada.
What part of speech is scarify?
Scarify is a verb.
How do you pronounce scarify?
Scarify is pronounced /ˈskæ.ɹɪˌfaɪ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of scarify?
The past tense of scarify is scarified.

Words near scarify in the dictionary

  1. scarificators
  2. scarified
  3. scarifier
  4. scarifiers
  5. scarifies
  6. scarify
  7. scarifying
  8. scarifyingly
  9. scarily
  10. scarin'
  11. scarine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scarify (page history and authors); scarify (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-scarify.wav.

Cite this entry: “scarify.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scarify. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.