drawl
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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drawls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
drawled,
past participle, past
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drawling
present participle
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
drawlsimple
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drawlssimple
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have drawledperfect
-
has drawledperfect
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am drawlingprogressive
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are drawlingprogressive
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is drawlingprogressive
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have been drawlingperfect progressive
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has been drawlingperfect progressive
Past
-
drawledsimple
-
had drawledperfect
-
was drawlingprogressive
-
were drawlingprogressive
-
had been drawlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of drawl
1590–1600; < Dutch or Low German dralen to linger
Explanation
A drawl is a distinctively slow, drawn-out way of talking that's especially common in the U.S. South. A writer might describe a cowboy as speaking in a lazy drawl. A drawl tends to lengthen and extend vowel sounds in particular, so that words like "pet" or "pen" might be pronounced with two syllables, rather than one short one. While the Southern states are best known for inhabitants with drawls, Australian and New Zealand natives are also sometimes said to drawl. The word probably stems from the Dutch dralen, "delay" or "linger."
Vocabulary lists containing drawl
Instead of "Said": Words That Sound Like What They Mean
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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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:
But then I hear a Southern drawl in my head.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
“Noooo,” Sen. Thom Tillis said in his North Carolina drawl when I asked if Trump had given him a pair.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
Luiz, a French cab driver ferrying festivalgoers around Cannes, does good impersonations of both a Long Island accent and a Southern drawl, said he loves talking with Americans.
From Salon ● May 22, 2026
Evidence shows that the Southern drawl and “the laid-back y’all” didn’t take hold until at least 1875.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
“Rrruuukkku,” I heard the waste mart man drawl as he and the other man stumbled toward us, “I’ve found you.”
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
As a public speaker, he drawls out short speeches punctuated with University of Georgia football catchphrases.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 9, 2022
“Dark skin, light skin, beige” — Madison drawls on “Cozy” — “fluorescent beige.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2022
"Okay, I've been practicing my longest and loudest scream," drawls Rhian Teesdale in Wet Leg's scathing indie-pop anthem Ur Mum.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2022
“Saaaauce,” he drawls to his wife as he gazes upon his unwitting targets.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2022
He drawls; each word, formed reluctantly and framed in a cattle- country accent, lasts awhile.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
"Sorry to the people who were expecting Patchwork," he drawled after the song ended.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025
Gibbons drawled in the most famous 30-second spot touting Grape-Nuts as the "back-to-nature" cereal.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2023
Over rattling production from super-producer Mike-WiLL Made-It, Trouble drawled his street tales, bringing them to life in the 37-minute short film that accompanied the album.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2022
“I got nothing — n-o-t-h-i-n-g,” he drawled to the reporters waiting outside the Democrats’ closed door lunchroom Thursday as it became clear there would be no Christmas deal.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 16, 2021
A deep voice drawled at him from a face he could not see.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
With Richards’s gnarled, withering guitar lines and Jagger drawling and declaiming, there’s no mistaking the band behind “Foreign Tongues.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
No matter what role he took on in a career that lasted more than five decades, Gambon was always instantly recognizable by the deep and drawling tones of his voice.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 28, 2023
Yes, this film isn’t some Beatles-inspired riff but a sequel to the twisty 2019 romp “Knives Out,” which introduced Daniel Craig as the drawling detective Benoit Blanc.
From New York Times ● Sep. 12, 2022
Fortune magazine dubbed Mr. Pickens “the most hated man in corporate America” during that era, while he presented himself as a drawling David battling petroleum Goliaths.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 11, 2019
Harry and Ron listened, and heard a familiar drawling voice drifting in through the open door.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
