Word.ws English Dictionary

scratches one's own itch

scratches one's own itch is the third-person singular simple present indicative of scratch one's own itch.

Meaning of scratch one's own itch

Verb

scratch one's own itch (third-person singular simple present scratches one's own itch, present participle scratching one's own itch, simple past and past participle scratched one's own itch)

  1. (idiomatic) To do something out of motivation to solve a personal problem; to take matters into one's own hands.
    • Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer's personal itch.1999, Eric S. Raymond, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, section 2
  2. (euphemistic, idiomatic) to masturbate

Questions about scratches one's own itch

What is scratches one's own itch the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Scratches one's own itch is the third-person singular simple present indicative of scratch one's own itch.

Words near scratches one's own itch in the dictionary

  1. scratches an itch
  2. scratches below the surface
  3. scratches beneath the surface
  4. scratches by
  5. scratches one's head
  6. scratches one's own itch
  7. scratches out
  8. scratches that
  9. scratches the surface
  10. scratches together
  11. scratches up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scratches one's own itch (page history and authors); scratch one's own itch (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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