Word.ws English Dictionary

scurviest

scurviest is the superlative form of scurvy.

Meaning of scurvy

Adjective

scurvy (comparative scurvier, superlative scurviest)

  1. (obsolete) Affected or covered with scurf (“skin disease causing flakes of skin to fall off”) or scabs; scurfy, scabby; also, of or relating to a skin disease causing scurf or to scurvy (noun sense 1).
    • Some wenches come vnlased, / Some hyswyues come vnbrased, / Wyth theyr naked pappes, / That flappes and flappes; / […] / A sorte of foule drabbes / All scuruy with scabbes: […]c. 1517 (date written; published c. 1545), John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth the Booke Called Elynour Rummynge. The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng per Skelton Laureat.”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The...
  2. (broadly, obsolete) Of growths on plants: resembling scurf; scurfy.
  3. (archaic, figuratively) Of a person or thing: disgustingly mean; contemptible, despicable, low.
    • a scurvy knave a scurvy trick
  4. (archaic, figuratively) Of the way someone is treated: poor, shabby.

See all 7 meanings of scurvy

Questions about scurviest

What is scurviest the superlative form of?
Scurviest is the superlative form of scurvy.

Words near scurviest in the dictionary

  1. scurs
  2. Scurtu Mare
  3. scurvied
  4. scurvier
  5. scurvies
  6. scurviest
  7. scurvily
  8. scurviness
  9. scurvy
  10. scurvy grass
  11. scurvy grasses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scurviest (page history and authors); scurvy (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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