scrawl
verb (used with object)
to write or draw in a sprawling, awkward manner.
were scrawling
-
past progressiveof scrawl.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
The Emperor and his people alike were hooked: within a century of its author’s death, in 19 B.C., citizens of Pompeii were scrawling lines from the epic on the walls of shops and houses.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 8, 2018
Music was getting more percussive; teenagers with spray cans were scrawling hieroglyphic names and full-fledged murals on subway cars.
From New York Times ● Aug. 26, 2016
Within days his followers were scrawling "Bird Lives!" on Manhattan walls.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 21, 2010
Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant’s hand were scrawling upon the blackboard and then wiping it off again; watching it, Harry saw that it was flashing advertisements across the field.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
A pennyworth of sugar-plums would have made our eyes sparkle when we were scrawling pot- hooks at a preparatory school, but no one gave us sugar-plums then.
From What Will He Do with It? — Volume 07 by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
