sprawl

1 of 2

verb

ˈsprȯl 

sprawled; sprawling; sprawls

intransitive verb

1

: to lie or sit with arms and legs spread out

2

: to spread or develop irregularly or without restraint

bushes sprawling along the road

sprawling suburbs

a sprawling narrative

3

a

: to creep or clamber awkwardly

b

archaic : to lie thrashing or tossing about

transitive verb

: to cause to spread out carelessly or awkwardly

sprawled out her books on the table

sprawl

2 of 2

noun

1

: an irregularly spread or scattered group or mass

a sprawl of stores and restaurants

2

: urban sprawl

3

: the act, posture, or condition of sprawling

Examples of sprawl in a Sentence

Verb

The kids sprawled on the floor to watch TV.

She tripped and went sprawling into the table.

The city sprawls along the coastline.

The bushes were sprawling along the road.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

But Meta, a trillion-dollar company increasingly invested in artificial intelligence, is so much vaster than RJR Nabisco, and the current settlement applies to only a single facet of its sprawling operations. — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026

After a summer punctuated by heat waves and sprawling heat domes, the idea of squeezing in one more hot-weather vacation may have lost some of its appeal. — Brittany Anas, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026

Noun

Conceived from the start as a film of five to 20 minutes, the project suited a director who has never been drawn to sprawl. — Clayton Davis, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026

There’s an inventiveness here that comes from the sprawl of the city — artists like myself who are constantly improvising, building their own ecosystems because nothing is handed to them. — Shelley Holcomb, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English, from Old English sprēawlian

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 3b

Noun

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Phrases Containing sprawl

• urban sprawl

Rhymes for sprawl

• ahl
• all
• aul
• bawl
• brawl
• call
• caul
• crawl
• dol
• doll
• drawl
• fall

Kids Definition

sprawl

verb

ˈsprȯl

1

: to lie or sit with arms and legs spread out

sprawled on the couch watching TV

2

: to spread out in an uneven or awkward way

a sprawling city

sprawl noun