How to Use scavenge in a Sentence

scavenge

verb
  • The bears scavenged the woods for food.
  • Rats scavenged in the trash.
  • He scavenged the town dump for automobile parts.
  • The main thing is to scan, scavenge, and hoard scrap.
    — Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
  • At a young age, she was forced to scavenge for food and warmth.
    — Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2025
  • Hundreds of pairs flock to the city to scavenge for fish near markets and canals.
    — Elaina Zachos, National Geographic, 28 June 2018
  • On the team plane, players scavenged for blankets and drinks to keep warm.
    — USA TODAY, 26 Dec. 2017
  • This left behind bite-sized pieces that the dolphins could then scavenge.
    — New Atlas, 12 Dec. 2025
  • It’s also known that sharks scavenge dead whales, blues and others.
    — Sean Mowbray, Discover Magazine, 16 July 2024
  • Others went out from the school in kayaks to scavenge food and water from their old homes.
    — Mattathias Schwartz, Daily Intelligencer, 22 Dec. 2017
  • Flatheads often scavenge and aren’t picky about their food.
    — Keith Sutton, Outdoor Life, 18 June 2026
  • Jen and Chris will have to scavenge enough food to avoid going hungry.
    — Maddie McGarvey, History & Culture, 18 Dec. 2020
  • Avelar survived the first six months in the city by scavenging food from the trash.
    — Alice Driver, Longreads, 30 June 2018
  • In some parts of the country, schools had to, and still do, close to allow pupils to scavenge for food.
    — Vincent Kituku, idahostatesman, 2 June 2017
  • In the game, players scavenge for weapons and fight to be the last person standing.
    — Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2021
  • Hunger was driving villagers to scavenge and log in the forest.
    — Caroline Chen, ProPublica, 7 Mar. 2023
  • That’s when my husband and daughter went out to scavenge for food amid the wreckage.
    — Washington Post, 14 Sep. 2017
  • This means that all, or nearly all, of moose in coyote diets is scavenged.
    — Alex Jensen, The Conversation, 18 Dec. 2025
  • And scavenging whales that beached themselves or turned up dead on shore still caused drama.
    — Andrew Chapman, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 May 2024
  • The video shows that these species can scavenge on the same food source at the same time without any or much fighting.
    — National Geographic, 25 Apr. 2018
  • His team also was able to scavenge for food in the Statler’s banquet-hall kitchens.
    — Sarah Blaskovich, Dallas News, 20 Feb. 2021
  • There were the pelts of small mammals and birds that hung in our garage — and from which my dad scavenged to make fishing flies.
    — Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2024
  • Lead from the bullets used to kill game can can poison birds that scavenge the carcasses.
    — Shaena Montanari, The Arizona Republic, 23 Sep. 2020
  • The rats scavenging for food drive Marcus Emery crazy at night.
    — Otis R. Taylor Jr., San Francisco Chronicle, 11 May 2018
  • Lead poisoning is still the primary threat to the species, which scavenge for food.
    — Sophie Lewis, CBS News, 8 July 2020
  • But that doesn’t stop me from going back to such places a few weeks later to try and scavenge the few birds that remain.
    — Joe Genzel, Outdoor Life, 17 Sep. 2020
  • From the outside, the crab looks like any other swimming crab scavenging through the fine sand.
    — Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2024
  • The man and the boy scavenge sites for life’s necessities, most notably food and weapons.
    — Hazlitt, 23 Oct. 2024
  • Many leave behind bulky items like sofas, bed frames, and tables that are ripe for scavenging.
    — Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Two-way big men don’t grow on trees, but Daryl Morey is smart enough to scavenge the jungle floor.
    — Matt Dollinger, SI.com, 21 June 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scavenge.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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