scrawl
to write or draw in a sprawling, awkward manner: He scrawled his name hastily across the blackboard.
to write awkwardly, carelessly, or illegibly.
awkward, careless, or illegible handwriting.
something scrawled, as a letter or a note.
Origin of scrawl
1Other words from scrawl
- un·scrawled, adjective
- un·scrawl·ing, adjective
Words Nearby scrawl
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use scrawl in a sentence
Artists would use pen names and scrawl them across subway cars, walls, shops, and office buildings.
Catch Him If You Can: Reliving Banksy’s New York Invasion | Alex Suskind | November 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn the past, troops would scrawl notes and slap stickers in these last stops before warzones.
How I’ll End the War: The Trip Over to Afghanistan | Nick Willard | April 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI felt the power in my fingernails to brand the earth with my own scrawl.
Making Lincoln Sexy: Jerome Charyn’s Fictional President | Tom LeClair | March 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAround the edges in her own spidery scrawl she would ask how I was.
She held it while the trooper bent over the strange scrawl, and ran his eyes along it to learn the context.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
Reading, thanks to Sebastian's patience, he might make shift with; he could barely scrawl an awkward fist.
God Wills It! | William Stearns DavisIt was a veritable scrawl, madam, running something like this: 'I return your daughter to you.
The Circular Study | Anna Katharine GreenThe general will pardon this scrawl; and should he send an express after us, please to let Mrs. Pike know of the opportunity.
The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Volume II (of 3) | Elliott CouesBeing seated on the ground, 585 and writing on the back of a book, I hope will plead my excuse for this scrawl.
The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Volume II (of 3) | Elliott Coues
British Dictionary definitions for scrawl
/ (skrɔːl) /
to write or draw (signs, words, etc) carelessly or hastily; scribble
careless or scribbled writing, drawing, or marks
Origin of scrawl
1Derived forms of scrawl
- scrawler, noun
- scrawly, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse