scratching out
Removing by scraping
Scratching out means crossing something off by drawing rough lines through it, typically with a pen or pencil: She scratched out the wrong answer and wrote the correction above it.
The image suggests hasty, imprecise deletion rather than neat erasure.
By extension, scratching out a living means barely managing to survive through difficult effort—as if scraping marks into resistant ground.
- cross outEliminate by marking
- eke outObtain with difficulty
- subsistMaintain minimal existence
- markVisible impression or sign
- pencil marksLines from lead writing
deletion · pen · erase · effacing · get by · scrape by · scraping together · eradication · rubbing out · make do · making ends meet · hand to mouth · obliterate · expunge · scavenge · just surviving · toil · cancel
scratching outadding
Joining to increase
inserting · filling in · inscribing · entering · penning
scratching outhighlighting
Emphasizing key parts
underlining · clarifying · emboldening · emphasizing · illuminating
scratching outthriving
Succeeding vigorously
flourishing · prospering · living well · succeeding · flowing freely
scratch, scratching, scratched, scratches, scratcher, scratchy, outing, outward