scraggly

adj

Etymology: As if from a verb *scraggle (in turn from scrag). Equivalent to scrag + -le + -ly.

1. Rough, scruffy, or unkempt.

   “The sunburn of my face, what little of it could be seen through a scraggly growth of beard, had faded to a sickly yellow.”

   “Faintly from the street scraggly children's voices singing a yule song. Miss Tomson going to the window. "Hey come here Mr Smith look at this, isn't that sweet, group of urchins, they're singing."”

2. Jagged or uneven; scraggy.

   “She would be so happy . . . that she wouldn't notice the spelling or the scraggly writing.”

   “"I have no idea," the young woman said, checking over the scraggly illegible signature the mystery woman had left her in her autograph book.”