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.
Bruno Fernandes, perhaps the only United player to have done himself justice this season, pulled one back from the penalty spot after Casemiro was kicked during a frantic scrabble.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2025
It might not be up to John Cena standards, but she’s clearly figured at least a few things out along her scrabble to undeniable stardom.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2024
Don’t just rely on your phone’s memory; you might not be the one making the phone call and it saves time not to have to scrabble around.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2023
The policy spurs a scrabble for more hard currency.
From Reuters ● Aug. 3, 2023
Beneath the debris I could hear the scrabble of tiny feet, some rodentine dark-dweller that had survived the implosion of its world.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
He was a bit better than me at the end, so I decided to propose a different game - Scrabble.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
I will not walk on a beach with you, but I will play Scrabble.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
Did the kids want to read books or play Scrabble with their parents all afternoon?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
But this is not "normal Scrabble": the new game, which will soon go on sale across Europe, is designed to encourage players to work together, rather than competing against each other.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2024
In the evenings, she served Ritz crackers piled with sardines for appetizers and put dinner on TV trays so that everyone could watch the news or play a heated game of Scrabble.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
At the novel’s outset, Ezra scrabbles through his world with honest hunger and understandable, if sometimes pedantic, disdain for those with more than him.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 7, 2023
But in one instance, a dog uses Halle Berry’s back as a springboard, then scrabbles up the wall to the second story and attacks a gunman on a balcony.
From Slate ● May 16, 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 as he falls and grabs the back of the wooden chair.
From "Invisible Inkling" by Emily Jenkins
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
"I had no idea how long it would take the officers to get there, so we scrabbled about for things to talk about," the 39-year-old says.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2022
Some people tried to lock the beasts out as they scrabbled at the door.
From Washington Post ● May 26, 2021
A dog’s scrabbled paw prints, a bobcat at best.
From Slate ● Jun. 19, 2018
Her good leg scrabbled at the bank; then, finding no traction, she tumbled back into the mud.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Europe’s scrabbling together of funds to put into the pot is important here.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
The change meant the UK had to "build out" relationships with allies around the world but also invest in the UK's own economy, Jones said, denying ministers were "scrabbling" for solutions.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2025
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
The face-off lasted for seconds that stretched into eternity, and then, with the scrabbling of claws, the dragon fled to the darkness at the rear of the barn.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
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.
