Word.ws English Dictionary

scratchy

/ˈskɹæt͡ʃi/

scratchy adjective: characterized by scratches.

Adjective

scratchy (comparative scratchier, superlative scratchiest)

  1. Characterized by scratches.
    • An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN
  2. Irritating; itchy.
  3. (informal) Noisy, lossy; marred by white noise or static as a result of poor or low signal, interference or unfavourable atmospheric conditions.
    • The FM station two hundred miles away was receivable, but the audio was too scratchy to positively identify.
  4. Having popping and/or crackling sounds due to excessive wear, especially from scratch marks.
    • Once he almost fell asleep, and then the little record player started up in his mother and father's bedroom. Mom was playing her scratchy Elvis 45s again.1991, Stephen King, Needful Things
  5. (informal) Irritable; tetchy.
    • 'Now, now, don't get scratchy,' said Casali. 'You've got enough troubles of your own. […]1978, Attilio Veraldi, The Payoff, page 105

scratchy meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

scratchy in Tamil

கீறல்போன்ற, சமநிலையற்ற, கீறலாக எழுதுகிற, பிறாண்டும் தன்மையுடைய, உராய்வுடைய, உராய்வொலியுடைய

scratchy in Bengali

আঁচড় দ্বারা চিহ্নিত, উত্তেজক, চুলকানিযুক্ত, কোলাহলপূর্ণ, সংকেত হারানো, দুর্বল

scratchy in Malayalam

കിറുകിറാശബ്ദമുണ്ടാക്കുന്ന, അപശബ്ദമുണ്ടാക്കുന്ന

scratchy in Kannada

ಒರಟಾದ, ಮೃದುವಿಲ್ಲದ, ಮೇಲ್ಮೈ ಕಚ್ಚುಕಚ್ಚಾದ್ದರಿಂದ ಅಪಸ್ವರ ಹೊರಡಿಸುವ, ಕರಕರ ಶಬ್ದ ಮಾಡುವ

Examples of scratchy in a sentence

  • With a scratchy throat and a cough, it feels like I'm coming down with a cold.
  • Nibs can be scratchy in soap, so this may not be best for delicate areas.
  • Rudolph and Stella laugh hysterically as I sing along in a scratchy, whiny Chipmunk voice.

All 13 example sentences with scratchy

Forms of scratchy

comparativescratchier
superlativescratchiest

Origin of scratchy

From scratch + -y.

Words that rhyme with scratchy

Questions about scratchy

What does scratchy mean?
Scratchy means characterized by scratches.
What is scratchy in Tamil?
Scratchy in Tamil is கீறல்போன்ற, சமநிலையற்ற, கீறலாக எழுதுகிற. See Scratchy meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is scratchy?
Scratchy is an adjective.
How do you pronounce scratchy?
Scratchy is pronounced /ˈskɹæt͡ʃi/.

Words near scratchy in the dictionary

  1. scratchsome
  2. scratcht
  3. scratchweed
  4. scratchweeds
  5. scratchwork
  6. scratchy
  7. scrats
  8. scratted
  9. scratter
  10. scratters
  11. scratting

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scratchy (page history and authors); scratchy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scratchy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scratchy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scratchy (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)-Vealhurl-scratchy.wav.

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