crawl

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verb

Definition of CRAWL

1

to move slowly with the body close to the ground <the time we had to crawl through a narrow passageway from one cave to another>

Synonyms belly, creep, grovel, slide, slither, snake, worm, wriggle

Related Words crouch, squat; edge, inch, nose; skulk, sneak, steal, tiptoe

2

to move slowly <the weekend traffic on the road to the beach just crawled>

Synonyms creak (along), creep, drag, inch, limp, nose, ooze, plod, poke, slouch, snail

Related Words lumber, shamble, shuffle, tramp, trudge

Near Antonyms float, glide, sail; hurry, tear

Antonyms fly, race, speed, whiz (or whizz), zip

3

to move or act slowly <the deadline is fast approaching, so this is no time to crawl>

Synonyms crawl, creep, dally, dawdle, diddle, dillydally, drag, lag, linger, loiter, lollygag (also lallygag), mope, poke, shilly-shally, tarry

Related Words fiddle (around), fool around, mess around, monkey (around), play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle; hang (around or out), idle, loaf, loll, lounge; amble, ease, inch, lumber, plod, saunter, shuffle, stagger, stroll; decelerate, slow (down or up); filibuster, procrastinate, stall, temporize

Near Antonyms bowl, breeze, dart, hump, hurtle, hustle, scramble, stampede; gallop, jog, run, sprint, trot; accelerate, quicken, speed (up); catch up, fast-forward, outpace, outrun, outstrip, overtake

Antonyms barrel, bolt, career, course, dash, fly, hasten, hotfoot (it), hurry, race, rip, rocket, run, rush, scoot, scud, scurry, speed, tear, whirl, whisk, whiz (or whizz), zip

4

to be copiously supplied <something must be up, as city hall is crawling with reporters>

Synonyms brim, bristle, bulge, burst, bustle, buzz, crawl, hum, overflow, pullulate, swarm, teem

Near Antonyms lack, need, want