scribble

verb

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scrib·ble | \ ˈskri-bəl

scribbled; scribbling\ ˈskri-b(ə-)liŋ

\; scribbles

Definition of scribble

(Entry 1 of 2)

transitive + intransitive verb

1 : to write or draw hastily or carelessly a note scribbled on the back of an envelope Harriet scribbled in her notebook as soon as she took her seat.— Louise Fitzhugh He took a stump of lead pencil out of his pocket and scribbled a moustache on the lion's upper lip and then a pair of spectacles on its eyes.— C. S. Lewis

2 : to fill or cover something with careless or worthless writings or drawings a scribbled envelope … papers … scribbled over with clues … — English Digest

scribble

noun

plural scribbles

Definition of scribble (Entry 2 of 2)

: a piece of writing or a drawing that is done quickly or carelessly She could barely make out the doctor's scribble. a page covered with random scribbles … he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Harry could make out Hermione's neat writing, Ron's untidy scrawl, and even a scribble that looked as though it was from the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid.— J. K. Rowling

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Examples of scribble in a Sentence

Verb She scribbled a note to him and then dashed off to her meeting. He scribbled down his phone number. Students scribbled furiously as the professor lectured. She was scribbling away in a notebook. The toddler scribbled all over the paper.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb As Mayor Cathey takes the stage, people scribble words of gratitude to hang on a fence and children chase one another, their laughter rising in the air and spreading across the crowd. — Carmen Sisson, The Christian Science Monitor, "Why this storm-ravaged city dreams of a comeback – with heart," 18 Oct. 2019 The album didn’t designate any owner or contact information, and Rodriguez refused to remove any of its photos for fear of damaging them, so clues scribbled on the backs of those images also were a mystery. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Family album bought at Texas flea market has ties to Midwest," 3 Oct. 2019 Georgia Tech’s whiteboard The academics out of Atlanta would of course have this as their turnover award: a whiteboard on which players get to scribble their Twitter handle. — Ross Dellenger, SI.com, "The Rundown: Week 1's Standouts, Defining Moments and Our New Top 10," 1 Sep. 2019 In an era before tracking chips and electronic checkpoints, race organizers used spotters to scribble down the bib numbers of runners going by. — NBC News, "Rosie Ruiz, Boston Marathon course-cutter, dies at 66," 9 Aug. 2019 Emil Guillermo of NBC News reports that Toy used to scribble out the negative coverage with black ink. — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, "Remembering Dorothy Toy, a Dazzling Asian-American Tap Dance Star," 5 Aug. 2019 During the debate, as his opponents spoke, Mr. Castro scribbled on a notepad a closing statement that what was essentially a 47-second distillation of his 20-minute convention speech. — Amy Chozick, New York Times, "Julián Castro’s Obama Moment," 18 Aug. 2019 Accordion-style manila folders still hold paper documents, judges scribble handwritten orders in court, carbon paper is used to make copies of the paper filings. — Jason Meisner, chicagotribune.com, "The feds once seized her cellphone, a line of people want to replace her and now Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown says she won’t seek reelection," 13 Aug. 2019 Among its best new features is its handwriting-to-text tool that was able to instantly convert even our sloppiest scribbles to text and works with 62 languages. — Samantha Kelly, CNN, "Samsung's Note10 finally bids farewell to the headphone jack," 7 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scribble.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.