- scrape
- scrape vb Scrape, scratch, grate, rasp, grind are comparable when they mean to apply friction to something by rubbing it with or against a thing that is harsh, rough, or sharp.Scrape usually implies the removal of something from a surface with an edged instrument; the term then commonly suggests a purpose (as erasing, smoothing, or freeing from dirt, paint, skin, or peel). Additionally the term commonly implies the making of a distinctive and often unpleasant sound{
scrape the dishes before washing
}{scrape potatoes
}{scrape off paint
}{a twinge that scraped upon the very parchment of his soul as a lead pencil upon a slate— Powys
}{chairs were scraped along the floor— Anderson
}Scratch differs from scrape in its common implication of less purposiveness in the agent and of definite damage to the thing that is scratched; it usually also suggests the use of a pointed rather than an edged instrument which gouges a line or furrow in a surface and seldom stresses the noise produced{a substance hard enough to scratch glass
}{scratched by the thorns of a rose
}{scratch a mosquito bite
}{this pen scratches
}{his wooden plow scarcely more than scratched the surface of the earth—/!. R. Williams
}Grate usually stresses the harsh sound or the sensation of harshness made by rubbing something with or against a rough indented or cutting surface (as of a file); the term implies removal of material from a body in particles, and in itself as distinct from context suggests nothing about the aims or effects (as abrasion, wearing or rubbing away, or pul-verization){grate nutmeg
}{grate cheese
}Often grate implies little more than a harsh or creaking sound made by friction{a key grated in the lock
}{till grates her keel upon the shallow sand— Byron
}In extended use the term tends to be used in reference to things that irritate, exasperate, or harass with the implication that their effect is like the harsh sound or the sensation of harshness characteristic of a physical grating{an unctuous heartiness . . . which grated upon David's ear— Turnbull
}Rasp usually implies a harsher or rougher and more disagreeable effect than either scrape or grate. It may suggest the use of or as if of a rough instrument (as a coarse file called a rasp) or of something equally effective or as trying to the nerves{thin a stick by rasping
}{these rocks are known to have their angles rasped off, and to be fluted and scarred by the ice— Tyndall
}{her hard, metallic voice had rasped the invalid's nerves— Carey
}{when you laid a tight hold on your fiddlestick . . . you could do nothing but rasp— Shaw
}Grind implies a sharpening of the edge or point of a tool or weapon or the smoothing of a surface (as of glass) by friction; in both uses the sound made in the act of grinding is often stressed{I have ground the axe myself; do you but strike the blow— Shak.
}{grind lenses for eyeglasses
}In extended use the word often implies a wearing down by friction and also often suggests a particularly harsh or rough method of gaining one's ends or of making one's way{laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law— Goldsmith
}{we went aground— grinding, grinding , till the ship trembled in every timber— Martineau
}scrape n *predicament, dilemma, quandary, plight, fix, jam, pickleAnalogous words: *difficulty, vicissitude: perplexity, bewilderment, distraction (see corresponding verbs at PUZZLE): embarrassment, discomfiture (see corresponding verbs at EMBARRASS)
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
