Word.ws English Dictionary

scratched the surface

scratched the surface is the simple past and past participle of scratch the surface.

Meaning of scratch the surface

Verb

scratch the surface (third-person singular simple present scratches the surface, present participle scratching the surface, simple past and past participle scratched the surface)

  1. (idiomatic) To barely begin; to see or do only a fraction of what is possible.
    • This beginners' course only scratches the surface of the subject.

Questions about scratched the surface

What is scratched the surface the simple past and past participle of?
Scratched the surface is the simple past and past participle of scratch the surface.

Words near scratched the surface in the dictionary

  1. scratched by
  2. scratched one's head
  3. scratched one's own itch
  4. scratched out
  5. scratched that
  6. scratched the surface
  7. scratched together
  8. scratched up
  9. scratchee
  10. scratchees
  11. scratcher

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scratched the surface (page history and authors); scratch the surface (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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Cite this entry: “scratched the surface.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scratched_the_surface. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.