scroll
Americannoun
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a roll of parchment, paper, copper, or other material, especially one with writing on it.
a scroll containing the entire Old Testament.
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something, especially an ornament, resembling a partly unrolled sheet of paper or having a spiral or coiled form.
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a list, roll, roster, or schedule.
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(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.
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the curved head of a violin or other bowed instrument.
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a note, message, or other piece of writing.
verb (used with object)
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to cut into a curved form with a narrow-bladed saw.
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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)
noun
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a roll of parchment, paper, etc, usually inscribed with writing
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an ancient book in the form of a roll of parchment, papyrus, etc
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a decorative carving or moulding resembling a scroll
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( as modifier )
a scroll saw
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( in combination )
scrollwork
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verb
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(tr) to saw into scrolls
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to roll up like a scroll
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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
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scrollsimple
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scrollssimple
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have scrolledperfect
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has scrolledperfect
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am scrollingprogressive
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are scrollingprogressive
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is scrollingprogressive
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have been scrollingperfect progressive
-
has been scrollingperfect progressive
Past
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scrolledsimple
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had scrolledperfect
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was scrollingprogressive
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were scrollingprogressive
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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:
Of particular concern are those like endless scroll, highly personalised feeds and the automatic playback of videos.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Every comic knows when you scroll your video for comments to see what people said, you’re not scrolling to read all the appreciation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
Other treasures on view include a charred 18th-century Torah scroll that survived the British ransacking of a synagogue, George Washington’s inaugural chair and Bible, and a New York printing of the Declaration of Independence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Play as Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, while the game’s credits roll, zapping the names of developers with her laser vision as they scroll past to score extra points you can redeem in the SuperShop.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026
She’d gathered their supplies in a round-bottomed cane basket, a green scroll nestling among a bag of mangosteens.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
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
She scrolls job advertisements online, fearful of internet scammers preying on her.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
On her phone, the lock screen still has a candid moment from their wedding, while in her gallery she scrolls back, further and further, to find Shubham again.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
A little later in our conversation, he pulls out his phone, scrolls for a second, then hits play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026
He chose one of the scrolls before him, took up his brush, and began writing.
From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
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
Elliott checked and scrolled compulsively, bypassing the parental controls, sneaking down to grab his phone from the family charging unit in the kitchen at night.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
Elsewhere, a couple of people scrolled on their mobiles, seemingly incapable of focusing on the big screen.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
He scrolled through his phone contacts until he saw “Supervisor” typed below a name.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2026
As he scrolled through the forums, clicking on threads, a little pop-up window appeared at the top of his screen.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
“These features fuel the user’s urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into ‘autopilot mode’, contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use,” the commission said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Every comic knows when you scroll your video for comments to see what people said, you’re not scrolling to read all the appreciation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
After James lost his job, his day became consumed with scrolling on social media, checking news websites and obsessing about what was happening in different parts of the world.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
And these furtive ads are so prevalent that mere diligence in scrolling or brush-ups on digital literacy aren’t sufficient solutions.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026
She had taken control of the laptop and was scrolling through Julie Hopper’s photos.
From "Goodbye Stranger" by Rebecca Stead
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.
