n.
- A mark left on the skin after a surface injury or wound has healed.
- A lingering sign of damage or injury, either mental or physical: nightmares, anxiety, and other enduring scars of wartime experiences.
- Botany. A mark indicating a former attachment, as of a leaf to a stem.
- A mark, such as a dent, resulting from use or contact.
v., scarred, scar·ring, scars. v.tr.
- To mark with a scar.
- To leave lasting signs of damage on: a wretched childhood that scarred his psyche.
- To form a scar: The pustule healed and scarred.
- To become scarred: delicate skin that scars easily.
[Middle English, alteration of escare, from Old French, scab, from Late Latin eschara, from Greek eskhara, hearth, scab caused by burning.]
scar2 (skär)
n.
- A protruding isolated rock.
- A bare rocky place on a mountainside or other steep slope.
[Middle English skerre, from Old Norse sker, low reef.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
