- 1[countable] a mark, a cut, or an injury made by scratching someone's skin or the surface of something Her hands were covered in scratches from the thorns. a scratch on the paintwork It's only a scratch (= a very slight injury). He escaped without a scratch (= was not hurt at all).
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sound - 2[singular] the unpleasant sound of something sharp or rough being rubbed against a surface
- 3[singular] the act of scratching a part of your body when it itches The dog had a good scratch. Idioms
- 1without any previous preparation or knowledge I learned German from scratch in six months. He built the orchestra up from scratch.
- 2from the very beginning, not using any of the work done earlier They decided to dismantle the machine and start again from scratch.
mark/cut
as good as something or someone should be synonym satisfactory His work just isn't up to scratch. It'll take months to bring the band up to scratch.
Check pronunciation: scratch