straggle
verb (used without object)
to spread or be spread in a scattered fashion or at irregular intervals.
have straggled
-
present perfectof straggle.present perfect
Used to describe actions that started in the past and continue into or have direct relevance to the present.
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.
Ever since Tibet's brave but abortive revolt against Red China in 1959, refugees have straggled across the border into India by twos and threes.
From Time Magazine Archive
For decades while we were silent our thoughts have straggled in all possible and impossible directions, we lost touch with each other, never learned to know each other, ceased to check and correct each other.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some 1,200 patients at an Iraqi psychiatric hospital who were relying on his group for food had escaped or been released, and now about half have straggled back.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some seemed to have straggled away as if they had given up trying to see or hear.
From A Man for the Ages A Story of the Builders of Democracy by John Wolcott Adams
It was reported that the trains had been delayed by the bad weather, and as to the herds, they must have straggled off as a result of conflicting orders.
From The Downfall by E. P. Robins
