What does "scab" mean?
An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing.
Scab
/skæb/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing.
- Grammar: scab is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: blackleg, strikebreaker, abscess, aposteme.
- Useful contrasts: bleeding, healthy skin, healthy tissue.
- Usage evidence: Tom's wound was still weeping and had yet to scab over.
How to use "scab"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "scab" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "scab" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "scab" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "scab" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "scab" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "blackleg" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "scab", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing. countable, uncountable
- 2 the crustlike surface of a healing skin lesion wordnet
- 3 The scabies. colloquial, countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 4 someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike wordnet
- 5 The mange, especially when it appears on sheep. countable, uncountable
"Scab was the terror of the sheep farmer, and the peril of his calling."
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 Any of several different diseases of potatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by streptomyces bacteria (but formerly believed to be caused by a fungus). uncountable
- 7 Common scab, a relatively harmless variety of scab (potato disease) caused by Streptomyces scabies. countable, uncountable
- 8 Any one of various more or less destructive fungal diseases that attack cultivated plants, forming dark-colored crustlike spots. countable, uncountable
- 9 A slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold. countable, uncountable
- 10 A mean, dirty, paltry fellow. countable, uncountable
"Out, scab!"
- 11 A worker who acts against trade union policies; any picket crosser (strikebreaker), and especially one with devotion to union busting. countable, derogatory, slang, uncountable
"When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out."
Verb
- 1 To become covered by a scab or scabs. intransitive
- 2 form a scab wordnet
- 3 To form into scabs and be shed, as damaged or diseased skin. intransitive
"1734, Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions (1719 - 1733) Abridged, Volume 7, page 631, Thoſe Puſtules aroſe, maturated, and ſcabbed off, intirely like the true Pox."
- 4 take the place of work of someone on strike wordnet
- 5 To remove part of a surface (from). transitive
"The beds shall be scabbed off to give a solid bearing, no pinning shall be admitted between the backing and the face stones and there shall be a good square joint not exceeding one inch in width, and the face stone shall be scabbed off to allow this."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To act as a strikebreaker. intransitive
"Don't scab for the bosses / Don't listen to their lies / Us poor folks haven't got a chance / Unless we organize."
- 7 To beg (for), to cadge or bum. Australia, New-Zealand, UK, informal, transitive
"I scabbed some money off a friend."
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Tom's wound was still weeping and had yet to scab over."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "scab"?
Common synonyms include: blackleg, strikebreaker, abscess, aposteme, backfill, bed sore.
How do you use "scab" in a sentence?
Tom's wound was still weeping and had yet to scab over.
How do you pronounce "scab"?
Pronounced /skæb/.
Etymology
From Middle English scabb, scabbe (also as shabbe, schabbe > English shab), from Old English sċeabb and Old Norse skabb, both from Proto-Germanic *skabbaz (“scab, scabies”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, carve, shape”). Doublet of shab. Cognate with German Schabe (“scabies”), Danish skab (“scab, scabies”), Swedish skabb (“scab, scabies”), Latin scabies (“scab, itch, mange”). Related also to Old English scafan (“to scrape, shave”), Latin scabere (“to scratch”), English shabby.