scabrous \SKAB-ruhs\,
adjective:
1. full of difficulties.
2. having a rough surface because of minute points or projections.
3. indecent or scandalous; risqué; obscene: scabrous books.
The old divorce case had been revived by a journalist. It was moderately scabrous. It had been with the wife of a still-prominent Tory politician.
-- C. P. Snow, "In Their Wisdom," 2000
He had amused her with the exacting nature of his questions, and his demands that she should include even the most scabrous details in her accounts.
-- Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, "Madeline is Sleeping," 2005
Scabrous is related to the common word scab. Both terms come from the Latin word scaber meaning "rough."
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