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
His voice rises into a stressed high range, and harmonies in the orchestra offer little comfort as he acknowledges that advancing age will not strew a single consoling flower.
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
Following Lydia from New York back home to Berlin, Field strews omens and red herrings in her path, slowly and deliberately fostering a mood of dread and paranoia.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
Liontas strews her own prose with aborted explanations: “Litza knew not to suggest that they drive together, so.”
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2015
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
And then comes the first Christmas day, and all is so solemn and still, and our Lord strews the white snow flakes, like down, on the earth, that no noise may be heard.
From Seed-time and Harvest A Novel by Fritz Reuter
Mud and rocks had exploded through their garage, leaving its contents strewed down the hill in the grime filling the mouths of storm drains.
From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2024
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
“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
Lavinia’s room; and strewed about it things he had never seen before—stays, kerchiefs, patchboxes, ribbons, fripperies.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
The speech was strewn with falsehoods that must have appalled even sympathetic listeners in the chamber.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Later, the vehicle was removed and a gaping hole was visible in the Metro bus’ side, with wreckage strewn around the scene.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Homendy said she walked the path of destruction, seeing the tire marks cut through the grass outside the runway—and navigation equipment, air bags and fencing strewn over the area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
At the other site in Arab Salim where the two women were killed, a mattress, furniture and other items including a Hezbollah flag were strewn among the rubble, while neighbouring buildings were also damaged.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
All the bags were opened and clothing was strewn around.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
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
Carmelita Montiel, a twenty-year-old virgin, had just bathed in orange-blossom water and was strewing rosemary leaves on Pilar Ternera's bed when the shot rang out.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
