Word.ws English Dictionary

scratches the surface

scratches the surface is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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 scratches the surface

What is scratches the surface the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Scratches the surface is the third-person singular simple present indicative of scratch the surface.

Words near scratches the surface in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scratches 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: “scratches the surface.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scratches_the_surface. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.