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🍳 Soft and loose 📝 Messy or jumbled ⛰️ Steep and rough
scrambly

scrambly

8.6
Steep, uneven ground with loose rocks that you must climb using your hands
  • adjective
  • /ˈskræmbli/
  • Jargon
translation icon : rocoso
  • Climbers should be prepared for scrambly terrain with loose rocks and steep slopes.

Examples

  • We avoided the most scrambly section of the path because it looked too dangerous.

  • The trail became scrambly near the summit, forcing us to use our hands for balance.

  • The trail was very scrambly near the top.

  • Be careful on that scrambly path!

  • The climbers carefully navigated the scrambly path that required them to use their hands to grip the rocks.

  • Hiking up the scrambly hillside, she had to steady herself to avoid slipping on the loose stones.

  • They chose a scrambly route to the summit, where climbing required both caution and agility.

Synonyms

craggy
vsscrambly
9 5.7

Rough and uneven with many steep rocks or cliffs

is steeper and requires using hands to climb over loose stones
steep-sided
vsscrambly
1 4.3

A thing with sides that rise almost straight up

is steep but also uneven with loose stones requiring hands
cliffy
vsscrambly
6.8

Full of steep cliffs and rocky edges

is steep but also covered in loose stones needing hands to ascend
cliffed
vsscrambly
7.0

A place with steep rock sides along its edge

is steep yet more broken and needs hand use to climb
scraggy
vsscrambly
6.7

Rough and uneven with many jagged edges

is steeper and requires hand support rather than just jaggedness
scrabbly
vsscrambly
  • UK
9.9

Land that is rough and thinly covered with short bushes and small plants

is steep and needs hands to climb over loose stones and plants

Antonyms

smooth
256 1.0

A surface that is even and not rough

level
1.0

Having a flat surface

How Rough

craggy
9 5.7
scrambly
  • Jargon
8.6
rocky
9 3.0
uneven
42 2.3
smooth
256 1.0

Surface Forms

scrambly positive

Morphology

scrambly = scramble (transparent) = scramble + y

Derived from the climbing sense of 'scramble' with '-y' to describe terrain that has the quality of requiring scrambling.

Etymology

Scrambly comes from scramble plus -y, and scramble also means 'to climb using your hands' on rough ground. So a 'scrambly' path is steep and loose and may need your hands to move safely.