crawled; crawling; crawls
1
a
: to move on one's hands and knees
The baby crawled toward her mother.
b
: to move slowly in a prone position without or as if without the use of limbs
The snake crawled into its hole.
The soldiers crawled forward on their bellies.
2
: to move or progress slowly or laboriously
traffic crawling along at 10 miles an hour
3
: to advance by guile or servility
crawling into favor by toadying to his boss
4
: to spread by extending stems or tendrils
a crawling vine
5
a
: to be alive or swarming with or as if with creeping things
a kitchen crawling with ants
b
: to have the sensation of insects creeping over one
The story made her flesh crawl.
6
: to fail to stay evenly spread
—used of paint, varnish, or glaze
1
: to move upon in or as if in a creeping manner
all the creatures that crawl the earth
2
: to reprove harshly
… they got no good right to crawl me for what I wrote …—
Marjorie K. Rawlings
Marjorie K. Rawlings3
of a search engine
: to visit and index (websites) for future database queries
This would apparently be a bit like online publishers … [telling] search engines such as Google not to crawl their sites.—David Meyer
David MeyerExamples of crawl in a Sentence
Does the baby crawl yet?
We got down on our knees and crawled through a small opening.
The baby crawled across the floor toward her mother.
The soldiers crawled forward on their bellies.
The snake crawled into its hole.
They're doing construction on the road, so traffic is crawling.
I worked late into the night, and it was 2 a.m. before I finally crawled into bed.
The bus crawled along the rough and narrow road.
The days slowly crawled by.
Work on the project has crawled to a standstill.
Recent Examples on the Web
People who like a show with a high concept voicey narrator that’s not afraid to crawl up its own butt will have no issue with it.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 29 May 2026
Maybe not stuck in an urban jam, dodging potholes or crawling amid draconian speed limits – but out there on the open road, taking sunny corners in a nice car?
—New Atlas, 29 May 2026
At sunset, the city starts glowing around you while traffic crawls silently below.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 28 May 2026
Video footage captured the team scaling shafts by rope and crawling through tunnels at times narrowing to just 60 centimeters – the width of an average refrigerator.
—Kocha Olarn, CNN Money, 28 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for crawl
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Joe Reid, Vulture, 29 May 2026
Maybe not stuck in an urban jam, dodging potholes or crawling amid draconian speed limits – but out there on the open road, taking sunny corners in a nice car?
—New Atlas, 29 May 2026
At sunset, the city starts glowing around you while traffic crawls silently below.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 28 May 2026
Video footage captured the team scaling shafts by rope and crawling through tunnels at times narrowing to just 60 centimeters – the width of an average refrigerator.
—Kocha Olarn, CNN Money, 28 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for crawl
Cite this Entry
“Crawl.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crawl. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
crawl
1 of 2 verb1
: to move slowly with the body close to the ground : move on hands and knees
2
: to move along slowly
the bus crawled along
3
: to be covered with or have the feeling of being covered with creeping things
the floor was crawling with ants
crawler
noun
crawl
2 of 2 noun1
: the act or motion of crawling
2
: a swimming stroke performed facedown in the water and using overarm strokes and rapid alternating kicks
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