scrabble
verb (used with object)
to scratch or scrape, as with the claws or hands.
scrabble
1 American
[skrab-uhl]
/ ˈskræb əl /
verb (used with object)
-
scrabbles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scrabbled,
past participle, past
-
scrabbling
present participle
-
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.
verb (used without object)
-
scrabbles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scrabbled,
past participle, past
-
scrabbling
present participle
-
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.
noun
-
scrabbles
plural
-
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.
Scrabble
2
American
[skrab-uhl]
/ ˈskræb əl /
Trademark.
scrabble
1
British
/ ˈskræbəl /
verb
-
(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
noun
-
the act or an instance of scrabbling
-
a scribble
-
a disorderly struggle
Scrabble
2
British
/ ˈskræbəl /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scrabblesimple
-
scrabblessimple
-
have scrabbledperfect
-
has scrabbledperfect
-
am scrabblingprogressive
-
are scrabblingprogressive
-
is scrabblingprogressive
-
have been scrabblingperfect progressive
-
has been scrabblingperfect progressive
Past
-
scrabbledsimple
-
had scrabbledperfect
-
was scrabblingprogressive
-
were scrabblingprogressive
-
had been scrabblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scrabble
1530–40; < Dutch schrabbelen to scratch, frequentative of schrabben to scrape
Explanation
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."
Vocabulary lists containing scrabble
Fahrenheit 451
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"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
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The Hobbit
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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:
Lee wanted wealth and stability, not to scrabble around in obscurity hoping to beat impossibly long odds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 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
Like my parents and many others I knew in the South Bronx, they scrabble to hang on and perhaps wonder if anyone sees or hears their distress.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2023
Speaking to Newsbeat down the coast from Dundee at Edinburgh's Portobello Beach, she says there's been "this sort of scrabble for the next big personality".
From BBC ● May 30, 2023
I scrabble back a little ways, grabbing Manchee by his scruff and taking him with me.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
An ode to the ecstasy of Scrabble: Do you love hearing someone talk about something they’re really passionate about and know very well, in great intimate detail?
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 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
A Scrabble board was on the coffee table.
From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
After the game, City manager Pep Guardiola admitted he is still trying to find "balance" in his squad while talismanic striker Erling Haaland scrabbles for form.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
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
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
In the meantime, Queenie breaks free and scrabbles up the hill.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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
In the second half, Roper hit the ball into the bottom-right corner on the run, before he scrabbled to get the ball across the line to put England 5-3 up.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2022
Self-made billionaires, Duan and Shum included, scrabbled to the top, greasing palms along the way.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2021
He scrabbled with all four paws, found some purchase, and scarpered up the slope and away.
From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2021
His foot scrabbled desperately but couldn’t find anything to kick.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
Europe’s scrabbling together of funds to put into the pot is important here.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
Bombaa also complains about how ordinary Nairobians, often scrabbling to make a living, have to pay to enter some of their city’s most beautiful locations such as the arboretum or Karura forest.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2024
This is, though, where much of Europe has been for some time: scrabbling around for scraps from the Premier League’s table.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 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
She was so quiet, we could hear the crawdad scrabbling inside.
From "The Lions of Little Rock" by Kristin Levine
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.
