shaggy

[ shag-ee ]

adjective

, shag·gi·er, shag·gi·est.

1. covered with or having long, rough hair.
2. untidy; unkempt:

   a shaggy person.

3. rough and matted; forming a bushy mass, as the hair or mane.
4. having a rough nap, as cloth.
5. characterized by sloppy planning or execution:

   a shaggy production of Macbeth.

shaggy

/ ˈʃæɡɪ /

adjective

1. having or covered with rough unkempt fur, hair, wool, etc

   a shaggy dog

2. rough or unkempt
3. (in textiles) having a nap of long rough strands

Derived Forms

• ˈshaggily, adverb
• ˈshagginess, noun

Other Words From

• shaggi·ly adverb
• shaggi·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of shaggy¹

First recorded in 1580–90; shag ¹ + -y ¹

Example Sentences

They bought his act as a shaggy sage in shorts and T-shirts, believed his claim that FTX was an almost uniquely “honest” crypto exchange and accepted his donations or invested their own, no questions asked.

From Los Angeles Times

This “Last Dance” may be shaggy, silly and even a little bit stupid — and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, especially when it’s winking so hard at its own genre play.

From Los Angeles Times

Staples, a third alum of Scorsese’s movie, led an appealingly shaggy take on “The Weight” that featured a pair of jam-band icons in the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and Phish’s Trey Anastasio.

From Los Angeles Times

A movement long defined by shaggy hippies encamped in old-growth redwoods and Indigenous protesters chained to construction equipment was remade in the image of two nonbinary university students wielding cans of tomato soup.

From Los Angeles Times

Téllez is 55, a large, jovial man with glasses and a shaggy salt-and-pepper beard who could easily be cast as any Latin American poet or professor.

From New York Times

Related Words

• furry
• long-haired