scrawl
Americanverb (used with object)
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scrawls,
present (3rd person singular)
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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
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are scrawlingprogressive
-
is scrawlingprogressive
-
have been scrawlingperfect progressive
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has been scrawlingperfect progressive
Past
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scrawledsimple
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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:
In Barcelona, a black graffiti scrawl has appeared on a long gray wall: “Digital Nomads go home!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
I’m a champion of the film, and so, too, I reckon is the cineaste I saw inside the Lightbox theater wearing a souvenir T-shirt who’d scratched out the “Toronto” with black marker to scrawl, “Winnipeg.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025
The handwritten pink scrawl suggests a level of stress that is entirely understandable for the team putting on the biggest stadium tour of the year.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 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
But instead, Coin personally hands me the supplies, and everyone waits in silence while I sit at the table and scrawl out my list.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Fun fact: Humanity’s first known scrawls were made by accountants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
By the end of October, the prime minister's frustration is obvious in the long note he scrawls at the end of a Covid briefing document marked OFFICIAL/SENSITIVE.
From BBC ● Nov. 19, 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
I had sticky notes and faint pencil scrawls on so many of the pages.
From "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour
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
The day after the council vote, protesters gathered outside Scientology’s Clearwater headquarters, where someone scrawled “Cult” and “Stop Scientology.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 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
Victors went beyond checking off a list of hastily scrawled names to thanking entire categories of people: women, ancestors, Koreans, audiences.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
The jagged purple words that had been scrawled across the page remained seared in her brain.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
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
People who are immersed in AI often have some surprisingly old-fashioned habits, from scrawling meeting notes on paper to inputting calendar entries manually.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
He’d been accused of scrawling “No to war!” on a building.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2024
Wembanyama cheerfully signed autographs, scrawling his name onto basketballs and Spurs jerseys — some even with his name already on the back — before making his way into a waiting vehicle.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 19, 2023
I would see clumsy, work-hardened, calloused hands scrawling and scratching signatures on the contract, agreeing to highway- robbery interest rates in the fine print that never was read.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
