strew
Americanverb (used with object)
-
strews,
present (3rd person singular)
-
strewed,
past participle, past
-
strewn,
past participle
-
strewing
present participle
-
to let fall in separate pieces or particles over a surface; scatter or sprinkle.
to strew seed in a garden bed.
- Synonyms:
- broadcast
-
to cover or overspread (a surface, place, etc.) with something scattered or sprinkled.
to strew a floor with sawdust.
-
to be scattered or sprinkled over (a surface).
Sawdust strewed the floor.
-
to spread widely; disseminate.
to strew rumors among the troops.
verb
Synonym Usage
See sprinkle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
strewsimple
-
strewssimple
-
have strewedperfect
-
have strewnperfect
-
has strewedperfect
-
has strewnperfect
-
am strewingprogressive
-
are strewingprogressive
-
is strewingprogressive
-
have been strewingperfect progressive
-
has been strewingperfect progressive
Past
-
strewedsimple
-
had strewedperfect
-
had strewnperfect
-
was strewingprogressive
-
were strewingprogressive
-
had been strewingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of strew
First recorded before 1000; Middle English strewen, Old English strewian; cognate with German streuen, Old Norse strā, Gothic straujan; akin to Latin sternere “to spread” ( see stratum)
Explanation
When you strew something, you scatter it all over the place. At a wedding, for example, the flower child's job is to strew the path with petals. One of the scariest parts of The Wizard of Oz is when the winged monkeys pounce on the Scarecrow and strew his insides all over the forest floor. Strewn is a more common form of the word, as in “after the tornado, the farm was strewn with debris.”
Vocabulary lists containing strew
Unit 1: Telling Details
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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List 7
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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:
A large section of the building facade is missing along its roofline, with rubble strew across the road below.
From BBC ● May 1, 2023
The only sign that the damaged building is not abandoned are the bunches of freshly cut, fragrant grass that worshipers traditionally strew in places of worship.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 12, 2023
Disturbed by statistics on Italian emigration that swelled to 84,000 in 1884 alone, Scalabrini wrote that the mass emigration and separation of families would “help strew white the lands of America with their bones.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 9, 2022
Advancing age has done nothing but strew bouquets of honor, love and admiration on Plácido Domingo, L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2016
So I offered to fetch fresh lavender to strew in Gertrude’s bedchamber, and that night I knelt again on the ground, gathering the silvery, purple-tipped fronds of lavender into my arms.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Then junior year comes along and strews the floor with trip wires that forces entire families to navigate them all in a fog of perpetual exhaustion and hastily prepared and erratically timed meals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2023
Liontas strews her own prose with aborted explanations: “Litza knew not to suggest that they drive together, so.”
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2015
He bustles on in curls and bosom and bonnet as another relative, a grasping woman married to a pig farmer, who strews gifts of bacon and sausage around.
From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2014
In Act 2, rubble from the wrecked proscenium strews the stage, the remnants of the Minstrels' Hall in the Wartburg castle, where Tannhaeuser takes part in a song contest.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 2010
Lie softly down, dear little head, Rest quiet, busy hands, Till, by your bed his good night said, He strews the shining sands.
From Graded Poetry: Third Year by Various
Elvis' actual house is smaller than you'd think and kinda gives off grandpa vibes with the overly carpeted rooms and hallways, and bric-a-brac strewed about.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2023
The stage: just a shelf strewed with rubble.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 28, 2022
As are the old-fashioned words — like “martinet,” “popinjay” and “annealed” — that Galloway sprinkles through the text, the way Leigh strewed the beloved posies from her various country estates.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2022
“He left the field strewed with Army tacklers who had a shot at him and came up empty-handed,” sports columnist Shirley Povich wrote in The Post.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 30, 2019
I swept the floor clean and strewed it with leaves.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
Images shared by Spanish media showed rubble strewn on the streets of Granada and cars with their windows smashed.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
But with sneakers strewn in the doorway and a cookbook opened to a specific recipe, the faux house felt lived in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Bush's victims sobbed in court as prosecutors outlined the "chaotic conditions" in the funeral home, which was strewn with rubbish and family photographs.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
"The family asked us to help via Facebook," said volunteer Charlotte Darribat, as she fed the reptile near upturned sunchairs and strewn clothes in the town of Lege-Cap-Ferret.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
The hills were strewn with boulders and stunted cedars, all shimmering in the hazy air.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
The Hercules aircraft went down shortly after departure from Puerto Leguizamo, near the southern border with Ecuador, strewing burning wreckage on the jungle floor.
From Barron's ● Mar. 23, 2026
The storm brought fierce winds and drove surging seawater miles inland, strewing the area with fallen trees, power lines and debris.
From Reuters ● Aug. 31, 2023
Climbing over fallen redwoods strewing the road after one of the toughest storms in March, I realized that my climate grief presents as numbness, disgust, fury and despair.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2023
Instead of just placing your gourds on your coffee table or strewing them about randomly through your space, think like a designer and take the opportunity to get a little creative.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
The two spells combined did what one alone had not: The spider keeled over sideways, flattening a nearby hedge, and strewing the path with a tangle of hairy legs.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
