v. 1 mar, mark, gouge (out), gash, abrade, graze, scuff, grate against, bruise, damage, injure; claw If you glue some felt to the bottom, the lamp won't scratch the table 2 chafe, rub If you scratch those mosquito bites you might get an infection 3 Often, scratch out or off. erase, obliterate, rub out or off, cross out, delete, strike out or off, expunge; exclude, eliminate, US x out You can scratch my name from the list of candidates She scratched out what she had written and started again.
n. 4 mark, gouge, gash, abrasion, scrape, graze, scuff, bruise, damage, injury; line Where did you get that scratch on your face? 'It's only a scratch', Sandy protested as they tried to remove the spear from his shoulder 5 up to scratch. up to standard or par, adequate, sufficient, good enough, competent, satisfactory, competitive, Colloq up to snuff Cynthia's performance is not yet up to scratch, so she might not make the team
adj. 6 hasty, hurried, impromptu, unplanned, haphazard, rough, casual, informal, unprepared, unpremeditated, makeshift, extempore, Colloq off the cuff, US pick-up We didn't have time to practise, so we are racing with a scratch crew