scrawl
Americanverb (used with object)
-
scrawls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scrawled,
past participle, past
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scrawling
present participle
verb (used without object)
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scrawls,
present (3rd person singular)
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scrawled,
past participle, past
-
scrawling
present participle
noun
-
awkward, careless, or illegible handwriting.
-
something scrawled, as a letter or a note.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scrawlsimple
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scrawlssimple
-
have scrawledperfect
-
has scrawledperfect
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am scrawlingprogressive
-
are scrawlingprogressive
-
is scrawlingprogressive
-
have been scrawlingperfect progressive
-
has been scrawlingperfect progressive
Past
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scrawledsimple
-
had scrawledperfect
-
was scrawlingprogressive
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were scrawlingprogressive
-
had been scrawlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scrawl
1605–15; perhaps to be identified with late Middle English scraule to sprawl, crawl (blend of sprawl and crawl 1 )
Explanation
To scrawl is to write in a quick, barely readable scribble. When you're signing a document, you might scrawl your name across the bottom. Doctors are well-known for the way they scrawl prescriptions on a pad, and you can refer to that chicken scratch handwriting itself as a scrawl. It's not easy to read someone's scrawl, which is careless and rushed. The origin of scrawl is (fittingly) unclear, although one guess connects it to the Middle English scrawlen, "spread out the limbs" or "sprawl."
Vocabulary lists containing scrawl
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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When You Reach Me
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Bridge to Terabithia
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The note, written in messy scrawl on lined paper, said, “They investigated me for month—Found nothing!!!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
The BBC has seen a copy of the judgement which includes the report and a two-page prescription which shows the doctor's unreadable scrawl.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2025
You’d scrawl your signature on each of the 25 cards, stuff them into their flimsy red envelopes and address them, painstakingly, to each member of your class.
From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2024
They had even managed to scrawl a message in Hebrew on the wall of a building, trying to alert the army to their presence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2023
Natalie’s calligraphy-like printing mixed together with Emma’s mad-scientist-style scrawl; even the pretty lettering got messier and messier, the farther he looked down the page.
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Travis largely keeps his own counsel except when he scrawls in his journal, excerpts from which Mr. De Niro reads in voiceover.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Players control a crew of characters on a quest to destroy the Paintress – a being who emerges once a year and scrawls a number onto a monolith.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2025
Landlords wanting to attract young professionals once scrubbed off the rebellious scrawls.
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2024
He was surrounded by bromides such as “Never Never Give Up” and “Follow Your Dreams” in scrawls that tried to mimic graffiti but were as cool as mom jeans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
But many of their favorite pictures and photographs were still hanging on that movie theater wall, above the empty mattresses, along with their homely scrawls; and scribbles.
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
Inside, travellers have left Greek scrawled on the walls, although it is not clear how old the writing is.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Looking at his police file, I can hardly read the signature over his statement; his name is illegible, scrawled and messy, like that of a boy.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
“The customer was just providing details when her husband came forward and grabbed the mobile phone started argument and cut the call,” a worker had scrawled in looped letters on a preprinted form.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
State TV showed pictures of the first missiles fired in his name with a message scrawled on its side - "At your service, Seyyed Mojtaba."
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2026
Sometimes, he’d sit in the theater seats after a game, and literally hundreds of people would hand their programs to him for his reluctantly scrawled signature.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
In my reviewer’s copy, I found myself scrawling “bad idea!” in the margin, trying to warn Rose about him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Earlier this year, Meta announced a multibillion-dollar cable project named Waterworth, which will connect the U.S. to South Africa, India and Australia, scrawling a 31,000-mile letter W on the face of the planet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 2, 2025
Last November, a 65-year-old American tourist was arrested on suspicion of scrawling graffiti onto a wooden gate at the Meiji Jingu shrine in Tokyo.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2025
The officers whose cameras captured the footage were involved in arresting the four on Jan. 1, 2021, for allegedly scrawling slogans such as “peaceful protest” and “BLM” on precinct walls with sidewalk chalk and charcoal.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 13, 2023
“So,” he said as he was scrawling, “what will be my duties with the company?”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
