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scrawly

American  
[skraw-lee] / ˈskrɔ li /

adjective

scrawlier, scrawliest
  1. written or drawn awkwardly or carelessly.


Other Word Forms

  • scrawliness noun

Etymology

Origin of scrawly

First recorded in 1825–35; scrawl + -y 1

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.

And finally they’re filled with a hand-drawn animation, in scrawly white on black, of a crowd of figures crossing and recrossing some empty urban space.

From New York Times • Nov. 1, 2023

Ike no Taiga, who was immersed in literati culture and wowed people by painting, impromptu, with his fingers, gives us big scrawly portraits of Chinese eccentrics.

From New York Times • Jan. 30, 2014

Newly minted Secretary of State Chuck Hagel signed off on a letter to a former Senate colleague with a scrawly, nearly illegible version of his signature.

From Washington Post • Mar. 12, 2013

Undeterred, he insisted on a large enough room in the hospital to take executive meetings from his bed, and he practised a new, scrawly left-handed signature.

From The Guardian • Mar. 2, 2011

This envelope was written in a scrawny, scrawly, gentleman's hand.

From Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe Compiled From Her Letters and Journals by Her Son Charles Edward Stowe by Stowe, Harriet Beecher