to scratch or scrape, as with the claws or hands.
to grapple or struggle with or as if with the claws or hands.
to scrawl; scribble.
to scratch or dig frantically with the hands; claw (often followed byat ).
scrabbling at a locked door to escape the flames.
to jostle or struggle for possession of something; grab or collect something in a disorderly way; scramble.
a scratching or scraping, as with the claws or hands.
a scrawled or scribbled writing.
a disorderly struggle for possession of something; scramble.
After the fumble, there was a scrabble for the football.
(intr; often foll by about or at) to scrape (at) or grope (for), as with hands or claws
to struggle (with)
to struggle to gain possession, esp in a disorderly manner
to scribble
the act or an instance of scrabbling
a scribble
a disorderly struggle
1530–40; < Dutch schrabbelen to scratch, frequentative of schrabben to scrape
To scrabble is to grasp or grope. If you lose your footing while rock climbing, you'll scrabble around with your fingers for a ledge to hang onto. The verb scrabble means to scratch or grab with your hands, the way you might search for something in a dark room or clutch at something frantically as you drop it. Scrabble also describes an animal's movements, like the sound of a squirrel that scrabbles, or scurries, out of your garbage can. Scrabble is also the name of a board game that involves making words out of letter tiles. Scrabble comes from the Dutch schrabben, "to scratch."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A group of people scrabble on the ground, sifting through the soil.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2025
“It was louder and closer; it was no longer a single belligerent hum glinting with accents of brass; it had diversified into a rolling scrabble of anger, holiday high spirits and sports crowd roar.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
The policy spurs a scrabble for more hard currency.
From Reuters ● Aug. 3, 2023
“Imagine you have scrabble tiles that spell out ‘Powerball.’
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2023
Pittsburgh was a city that had once sparked a rebellion, a place where one had to scrabble and scrape and fight for a chance at prosperity.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
I will not walk on a beach with you, but I will play Scrabble.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
PAWTUCKET, R.I.—The maker of Candyland, Monopoly and Scrabble has a new board game on its hands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 1, 2026
Robert, who describes himself with a smile as "massively dyslexic", explains he has only played the original Scrabble once before.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2024
"I would hate you so much if this was normal Scrabble," 23-year-old Raph Hӧfer says as he watches cafe owner Tim Willoughby place an impressive, long word on the board.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2024
She did her best to keep pace mentally when Kat tried to explain complex theories on patterns and codes using a Scrabble game.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
She scrabbles to find her reason for being.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 30, 2023
So Pluto is doubly fitting for the doppelgänger who ascended from underground and scrabbles around on all fours.
From Slate ● Mar. 24, 2019
As his wife scrabbles with angry protesters and gripes about her compromised marriage, he is sequestered in the bathroom, represented only by a mordant song that his aide-de-camp sings on his behalf:
From The New Yorker ● May 9, 2016
Some have suggested Mr Cameron is a study in "government by essay crisis" - like a student who suddenly realises work is urgently overdue, and scrabbles to put something brilliant together at the last moment.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2014
He scrabbles back, then starts sniffing at some bushes like there ain’t nothing unusual going on in the world.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
As she scrabbled for a laser pointer in her large handbag, her coloratura was comically on point, though she was inaudible in her middle range during the cabaletta.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2025
Swiss lawmakers have since scrabbled together six counterproposals.
From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 2023
He scrabbled with all four paws, found some purchase, and scarpered up the slope and away.
From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2021
"Doctors scrabbled to do the most urgent of surgeries, portering, scrubbing the floors, working with one or two remaining nursing staff. Matrons were washing linen," one doctor wrote by email.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2020
The hand, running high on its fingertips, scrabbled through the tall grass and up onto a tree stump.
From "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman
Europe’s scrabbling together of funds to put into the pot is important here.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
And last month, Ms Buckley received a call to say the childminder they were booked in with had to pull out because of personal circumstances - leaving the family "scrabbling" once more.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2024
When few other animals are out and about, wolverines are scrabbling up frozen slopes with their crampon-like claws and crunching through frozen bones of carrion dug out of snow.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 29, 2023
Videos on social media showed people scrabbling amid burnt-out buildings, digging frantically to try to find survivors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
I was scrabbling around, trying to pick up some beads I’d spilled, when I heard a girl’s voice behind me.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
