sprawl

[sprawl]

verb (used without object)

1. to be stretched or spread out in an unnatural or ungraceful manner.

   The puppy's legs sprawled in all directions.

2. to sit or lie in a relaxed position with the limbs spread out carelessly or ungracefully.

   He sprawled across the bed.

3. to spread out, extend, or be distributed in a straggling or irregular manner, as vines, buildings, handwriting, etc.

   Synonyms: branch, straggle

4. to crawl awkwardly with the aid of all the limbs; scramble.

verb (used with object)

1. to stretch out (the limbs) as in sprawling.

2. to spread out or distribute in a straggling manner.

noun

1. the act or an instance of sprawling; a sprawling posture.

2. a straggling array of something.

sprawl

/ sprɔːl /

verb

1. (intr) to sit or lie in an ungainly manner with one's limbs spread out

2. to fall down or knock down with the limbs spread out in an ungainly way

3. to spread out or cause to spread out in a straggling fashion

   his handwriting sprawled all over the paper

noun

1. the act or an instance of sprawling

2. a sprawling posture or arrangement of items

3. 1. the urban area formed by the expansion of a town or city into surrounding countryside

      the urban sprawl

   2. the process by which this has happened

Other Word Forms

• sprawler noun
• sprawlingly adverb
• sprawly adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sprawl¹

before 1000; Middle English spraulen to move awkwardly, Old English spreawlian; cognate with Frisian (N dial.) spraweli

Word History and Origins

Origin of sprawl¹

Old English spreawlian; related to Old English spryttan to sprout, _spurt , Greek speirein to scatter

Example Sentences

Layer in a few tactile moments: handwritten menus or place cards if that’s your vibe, or simply a stack of good blankets and genuinely comfortable pillows for that glorious post-meal sprawl on the couch.

Read more on Salon

Los Angeles’s urban sprawl and congested freeways make it a prime test market for air taxis, industry insiders say.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Tano is sprawled on the sand below, in the middle of the mess.

Read more on Literature

They ended up sprawled on the bakehouse floor, a tragic tangle of limbs.

Read more on Literature

There they crashed headlong into the source of the bellowing: a tall woman in a fur cape, who now lay sprawled on the floor with three orange-splattered ghosts hovering above her.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• drape 
• flop 
• loll 
• lounge 
• ramble 
• recline 
• slouch 
• straggle