scrub

1. 1.

   dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes

   Synonymschaparralbush

   Broadervegetation
2. 2.

   the act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush and soap and water

   Synonymsscrubbingscouring

   Broadercleaning

   Narrowerswabbing

1. 1.

   (of domestic animals) not selectively bred

   Similarunimproved

Other forms of scrub

plural

scrubs·

past tense or participle

scrubbed

present participle

scrubbing

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about scrub

What does scrub mean?

scrub means "clean with hard rubbing". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in scrub?

scrub has 1 syllable: scrub. In IPA it is /ˈskɹʌb/.

What is another word for scrub?

Close synonyms include scour, scrub up, cancel, call off, scratch. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is scrub a common word?

scrub is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.