scarred

[ skahrd ]

adjective

1. having a scar left by a healed wound, sore, or burn:

   He is tall and well-built, with a badly scarred face where he was bitten by a shark.

2. experiencing the psychological aftereffects of suffering or trauma:

   The main character endures childhood abuse and grows up to be a deeply scarred individual who thinks the whole world is against him.

3. (of a wound, burn, etc.) having formed a scar in healing:

   As healing progresses, the patient must be weaned away from needing a gauze wrap on the closed, scarred wound.

4. blemished or marred as a result of damage or use:

   Empty corrugated-iron buildings lie amidst a scarred landscape full of rubble.

   They furnished their first apartment with a used desk, a badly scarred table, and two old chairs with rickety legs.

5. Botany. bearing a mark indicating a former point of attachment, as where a leaf has fallen off:

   As the dieffenbachia ages, some of the lower leaves dry up and fall off, leaving a scarred stem that gradually lengthens.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of scar ¹.

Other Words From

• un·scarred adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of scarred¹

First recorded in 1425–75; scar ¹ + -ed ² for the adjective senses; scar ¹ + -ed ¹ for the verb sense

Example Sentences

As a child, he’d been diagnosed with a scarred kidney — a condition that left him fearful of drinking.

From Los Angeles Times

"Some of the movies that I grew up watching that I loved and scarred me were horror movies. I probably was too young to be watching those"

From Salon

Beth said Riley later recovered, but at six months old, tests discovered his left kidney was scarred, his right had reflux and there were also issues with his bladder.

From BBC

“New Wave” juxtaposes the memories of Ai’s uncles and aunts sneaking into underground clubs around Southern California with impressions of her own fragmented childhood, scarred by parental abandonment.

From Los Angeles Times

By early October, crews worked to repave Highway 2, which was left cracked and scarred from the fire and the efforts to fight it.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• awry
• bowed
• contorted
• damaged
• disfigured
• gnarled
• mangled
• misshapen
• twisted
• warped