scrubbed
scrubbed is the simple past and past participle of scrub.
Adjective
scrubbed (comparative more scrubbed, superlative most scrubbed)
- Dwarfed or stunted; scrubby.
- Having been scrubbed; having received a scrubbing.
- The stain was scrubbed off by Marsha.
- Having been made to seem wholesome or virtuous due to public relations, censorship or similar methods.
- They specialize in ensuring celebrities a scrubbed public image.
- Dressed in scrubs; with hands washed according to operating room protocol and wearing sterile gown and sterile gloves.
- But it wasn’t the sterile walls of the hospital I expected: no stirrups, no beeping monitors, no scrubbed nurses in face masks.1998, Shannon Friesen, “Afterbirth”, in Like Minds, Fredericton, N.B.: Broken Jaw Press, →ISBN, page 67
- Synonym of scrubbed up (Cleaned up; dressed up; having been made smart).
- He looked better than usual, reasonably scrubbed, but he still needed a better wardrobe.
- Synonyms:
- scrubbed up
Meaning of scrub
Verb
scrub (third-person singular simple present scrubs, present participle scrubbing, simple past and past participle scrubbed)
- To rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet brush, sponge or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning or brightening.
- to scrub a floor with a cleanser
- To rub anything vigorously, especially with a wet brush; to scour.
- She has been scrubbing for an hour, but the stain won't come out.
- Synonym of scrub in (“To thoroughly wash one's hands and forearms in preparation for performing a surgery”).
- The surgeon readied himself, dressing, scrubbing and checking his notes for the next patient.
- To be diligent and penurious.
- I've had to scrub hard for a living
- To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable.
- I will scrub the inefficiencies out of the system.
- To call off (a scheduled event); to cancel (something).
- Engineers had to scrub the satellite launch due to bad weather.
Synonyms of scrubbed
Forms of scrubbed
| comparative | more scrubbed |
|---|---|
| superlative | most scrubbed |
Origin of scrubbed
From scrub + -ed.
Phrases with scrubbed
Questions about scrubbed
- What does scrubbed mean?
- Scrubbed means dwarfed or stunted; scrubby.
- What is scrubbed the simple past and past participle of?
- Scrubbed is the simple past and past participle of scrub.
- What part of speech is scrubbed?
- Scrubbed is an adjective.
Words near scrubbed in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: scrubbed (page history and authors); scrub (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-scrubbed.wav.
Cite this entry: “scrubbed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scrubbed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
