scroll
Americannoun
-
scrolls
plural
-
a roll of parchment, paper, copper, or other material, especially one with writing on it.
a scroll containing the entire Old Testament.
-
something, especially an ornament, resembling a partly unrolled sheet of paper or having a spiral or coiled form.
-
a list, roll, roster, or schedule.
-
(in Japanese and Chinese art) a painting or text on silk or paper that is either displayed on a wall hanging scroll or held by the viewer hand scroll and is rolled up when not in use.
-
the curved head of a violin or other bowed instrument.
-
a note, message, or other piece of writing.
verb (used with object)
-
scrolls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scrolled,
past participle, past
-
scrolling
present participle
-
to cut into a curved form with a narrow-bladed saw.
-
Computers. to move (text) up, down, or across a display screen, with new text appearing on the screen as old text disappears.
verb (used without object)
-
scrolls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scrolled,
past participle, past
-
scrolling
present participle
noun
-
a roll of parchment, paper, etc, usually inscribed with writing
-
an ancient book in the form of a roll of parchment, papyrus, etc
-
-
a decorative carving or moulding resembling a scroll
-
( as modifier )
a scroll saw
-
( in combination )
scrollwork
-
verb
-
(tr) to saw into scrolls
-
to roll up like a scroll
-
computing to move (text) from right to left or up and down on a screen in order to view text that cannot be contained within a single display image
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scrollsimple
-
scrollssimple
-
have scrolledperfect
-
has scrolledperfect
-
am scrollingprogressive
-
are scrollingprogressive
-
is scrollingprogressive
-
have been scrollingperfect progressive
-
has been scrollingperfect progressive
Past
-
scrolledsimple
-
had scrolledperfect
-
was scrollingprogressive
-
were scrollingprogressive
-
had been scrollingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scroll
1350–1400; Middle English scrowle; blend of scrow, aphetic variant of escrow and rowle roll
Explanation
A rolled up piece of paper is a scroll. If you write a poem on a sheet of paper, roll it up, and tie it with a ribbon, you can call it a scroll. Before books existed, people wrote stories or important information on parchment or papyrus and rolled them into scrolls for easy storage and transport. Sometimes, a scroll would serve as a work of art, a decorated tale that would occasionally be unrolled and displayed. These days, when you scroll through something, you're probably reading it on a computer, moving down the screen.
Vocabulary lists containing scroll
Ancient Egypt - Introductory
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"Invictus"
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Ancient Egypt - Middle School and High School
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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:
Not only are the states seeking upwards of $1 trillion, external from Meta, they are demanding it make changes to Instagram and Facebook, including ending "like" counts and infinite scroll.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
The old crowded wait has become a couch scroll until your green bean skewer and brisket noodles appear by e-bike.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
Just two percent of the 1,000 teenagers polled said they did not currently scroll on social media or watch short-form videos on school nights.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
I scroll through the portraits he’d emailed me: two women laughing, a family smiling, and my personal favorite, a pop-artish rendering of Gigi Hadid.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
She bent forward to kiss the scroll, then pointed for Anya to do the same.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
Sixty years after Nirmala waited a week to hear one Hindi song, her grandson Krish scrolls through Punjabi music on his phone in seconds.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
The old-school kind where everybody is mostly well-behaved and polite, and the audience scrolls on their phones to stay awake.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
On our Zoom call, Herberhold scrolls through the TikTok feed she uses as a shell account to study the Com network.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
"It's the first time that he is wearing tefillin", Bandel said enthusiastically, referring to the small black leather boxes containing Torah scrolls.
From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026
She grabbed one of the little scrolls of paper they kept near the hawk’s perch, along with the charcoal pencil.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
When Maitri Sanghvi scrolled through TikTok, "Japan just kept popping up," she says.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
Venegas scrolled through his phone while Penna shuffled past us to grab a drink from the office fridge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Both were littered with sports events, which I scrolled past, but also had sections for elections, politics, tech and a lot more.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
For me, as I scrolled through them at night, as I thought about why I was so drawn to them, I realized: I am moved because they prove the thing I love is actually there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Harry was facing a mirror over the fireplace, a great gilded thing in an intricately scrolled frame.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
“There’s still something really valuable about sitting in a theater with a bunch of other people. But there’s also a lot of scrolling going on. Who’s generating that content? A lot of it’s generated here.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
It's late, you're scrolling on your phone and suddenly feel a strong urge to buy something - only to wake up the next day and regret it.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
This era of scrolling alone has, as Putnam halfway predicted, coincided with a rise in asocial extremism.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
That strategy led to decisions like making safety features optional, including tools designed to combat endless scrolling or limit enticing notifications.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
She starts tapping and scrolling, her brow furrowed in concentration.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
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.
