MEANING
1. To clean a surface by rubbing or scrubbing it hard, often with an abrasive.
2. To search a place, area, or collection thoroughly for something.
3. To wear away or remove material through the force of moving water.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- scour a pan
- scour a surface
- scour with sand
On the page
She scoured the pot with sand until her wrists ached.
The cleaners had scoured the threshold, but soot remained in every crack.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- scour
- Past tense
- scoured
- Past participle
- scoured
- Present participle
- scouring
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- scour
- Present continuous
- am/is/are scouring
- Present perfect
- have/has scoured
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been scouring
- Past
- scoured
- Past continuous
- was/were scouring
- Past perfect
- had scoured
- Past perfect continuous
- had been scouring
- Future
- will scour
- Future continuous
- will be scouring
- Future perfect
- will have scoured
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been scouring
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: scour; scours; scoured; scoured; scouring Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: scours.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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