Meaning & use
scratch
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To rub your skin with your nails, usually to stop an itch.
Grammar: Takes an object when you name the body part: scratch your head; no object with just scratching.
Patterns
- scratch something
- scratch at something
He scratched his head and stared at the map.
The dog scratched at the door until we let it in.
Try not to scratch the bite, or it will get worse.
verbtransitive
To damage a surface or skin by dragging something sharp across it so a thin line is left.
Grammar: Takes the damaged thing as object: scratch the paint.
Patterns
- scratch something
- scratch something on something
Someone scratched the side of my car in the car park.
The rose thorns scratched her arms badly.
Don't use a metal spoon or you'll scratch the pan.
verbtransitiveinformal
To remove a name or item from a list, plan or competition, or to cancel it.
Grammar: Takes an object, often with off: scratch the horse from the race.
Patterns
- scratch something off something
- scratch something
The coach scratched the injured player from the lineup.
We had to scratch our trip when the flights were cancelled.
He scratched two names off the guest list.
nouncountable
A thin mark or cut made by something sharp rubbing a surface or skin.
Grammar: A countable noun: a scratch on the table, several scratches.
Patterns
- a scratch on something
There is a deep scratch across the screen of my phone.
The cat left a scratch on his hand.
The car came back from the garage without a scratch.
nounidiom
The starting point when nothing has yet been done or prepared, used in the phrase from scratch.
Grammar: Used in the fixed phrase from scratch, with start or make: bake a cake from scratch.
Patterns
- from scratch
- up to scratch
After the fire we had to rebuild the shop from scratch.
She makes her pasta from scratch every Sunday.
His work was not up to scratch, so he redid it.
Word forms
| third person singular | scratches |
|---|---|
| past tense | scratched |
| past participle | scratched |
| -ing form | scratching |
| plural | scratches |
Common combinations
- scratch your head
- Experts are still scratching their heads over the strange results.
- scratch the surface
- This report only scratches the surface of the problem.
- start from scratch
- The software failed, so we had to start from scratch.
- up to scratch
- The meal was not up to scratch, so we complained.
- deep scratch
- A deep scratch ran along the wooden floor.
- scratch an itch
- He scratched an itch on his back using a ruler.
Synonyms and how they differ
- scrape
- Scrape means to drag a rough edge along something, often to remove a layer, while scratch usually leaves a thin line.
- scuff
- Scuff is for shoes and floors that get rubbed and marked, a duller kind of damage than scratch.
- cancel
- Cancel is the neutral word for calling off a plan, whereas scratch is informal and suggests quickly crossing it out.
- claw
- Claw suggests tearing or scraping with hooked nails or paws, so it sounds fiercer than scratch.
Opposites
Word family
- scratchy adjective
- rough and itchy, or making a rasping sound
- scratchily adverb
- in a scratchy way
- scratcher noun
- something or someone that scratches, such as a cat post
- scratchcard noun
- a card with a hidden prize you scratch off
Commonly confused: scratch or scrape?
scratch vs scrape
A scrape usually removes or rubs off a surface layer, while a scratch is a thin line cut across it.
Practice
The recipe says to make the dough from ___, without using a ready-made mix.
Choose one answer.
From scratch is the fixed phrase meaning starting with nothing prepared. The other words look similar but do not form an idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “scratch”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.