How to use scrounge in a sentence

13 example sentences · verb, noun

Scrounge means to hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean. Example: “As long as he's got someone who'll let him scrounge off them, he'll never settle down and get a full-time job.”

Examples of scrounge by meaning

verbTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean.

scrounge for food
Now you don't seem so proud about having to be scrounging your next meal.1965, Bob Dylan, “Like a Rolling Stone”
The booty bandits, who craved sex with the weaker inmates, and the merchants, rich with scrounged or stolen items who kept safe through an uncanny craft to barter anything, followed.2000, Rob Taft, Leaders of the City, page 23

verbTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another.

As long as he's got someone who'll let him scrounge off them, he'll never settle down and get a full-time job.

nounAn act of scrounging; a trip taken for the purpose of scrounging.

"Still, it's not much good sending you two off on a medical supplies scrounge.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 107

More sentences with scrounge

Despite our hangover and lack of supplies, we scrounged out a breakfast.From the entry scrounge out
Let me look around and see if I can scrounge up any old blankets for you to take to your picnic.From the entry scrounge up
The team scrounged out a victory last night.From the entry scrounge out
Daniel and I scrounge around in the kitchen cabinets, looking for something to eat.2018, Katrin van Dam, Come November, New York, N.Y.: Scholastic Press, →ISBN, page 9. From the entry PB and J
That makes him a servant of the powers-that-be that have no time for Nobby and his scrounging ilk.2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph (London). From the entry ilk
It can refer you to a bookfinder, who can scrounge up old issues of The Forbes Four Hundred.1996 October 14, Kenneth L[awrence] Fisher, “Why the rich get (relatively) poorer”, in Forbes, page 359. From the entry used-book store
"On the scrounge, are you?" said Gobling.1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 94. From the entry on the scrounge
Besides, if worse came to worst he had his pig-sticker— a beautiful switch-blade stiletto he'd scrounged off the body of a Latino after a gang war— in his back pocket.1991, Alan Rodgers; William Relling, Jr., New Life for the Dead, →ISBN, page 38. From the entry switch-blade

Meaning of scrounge

verb To hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean.
verb To obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another.
noun Someone who scrounges; a scrounger.

Full definition of scrounge

Questions about scrounge in a sentence

How do you use scrounge in a sentence?: Scrounge is used as a verb and noun. For example: “As long as he's got someone who'll let him scrounge off them, he'll never settle down and get a full-time job.”
What is a short sentence with scrounge?: “scrounge for food”
What does scrounge mean?: Scrounge means to hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean.

Adapted from Wiktionary: scrounge (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use scrounge in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/scrounge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.