as in leisurely
moving or proceeding at less than the normal, desirable, or required speed
the crawling pace of the narrative is really frustrating
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in creeping
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 & Similar Words
2
as in dragging
to move slowly
the weekend traffic on the road to the beach just crawled
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in poking
to move or act slowly
the deadline is fast approaching, so this is no time to crawl
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of crawling
Emy Lacroix, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
No one enjoys finding moths fluttering around the flour or tiny caterpillars crawling in the cereal.
—Lauren Wicks, Southern Living, 28 Oct. 2025
The hilarious clip shows the golden, named Ace, slowly moving toward a particular decoration made to look like a child crawling out from the dirt.
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
On Monday morning, the monster storm was crawling forward at only 3 mph.
—Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2025
The adjustable cords along the bottom cuffs even keep bugs from crawling up your calves.
—Katie Jackson, Travel + Leisure, 26 Oct. 2025
On a Sunday afternoon in San Jose, a teenage girl in a witch’s hat rushed toward a table piled with crystal jewelry while down the aisle a boy in a Spider-Man suit stopped to stare wide-eyed at a jumping spider crawling in a display case.
—Sonia Mankame, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025
Tropical Storm Melissa is crawling through the Caribbean Sea, threatening to unleash life-threatening flooding and mudslides across parts of the region later this week.
—Briana Waxman, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2025
These flat robots have multiple modes of movement, capable of jumping or crawling at multiple speeds.
—Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 18 Oct. 2025
Verb
This 2022 Netflix original documentary will have your skin crawling.
—Emy Lacroix, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
No one enjoys finding moths fluttering around the flour or tiny caterpillars crawling in the cereal.
—Lauren Wicks, Southern Living, 28 Oct. 2025
The hilarious clip shows the golden, named Ace, slowly moving toward a particular decoration made to look like a child crawling out from the dirt.
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
On Monday morning, the monster storm was crawling forward at only 3 mph.
—Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2025
The adjustable cords along the bottom cuffs even keep bugs from crawling up your calves.
—Katie Jackson, Travel + Leisure, 26 Oct. 2025
On a Sunday afternoon in San Jose, a teenage girl in a witch’s hat rushed toward a table piled with crystal jewelry while down the aisle a boy in a Spider-Man suit stopped to stare wide-eyed at a jumping spider crawling in a display case.
—Sonia Mankame, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025
Tropical Storm Melissa is crawling through the Caribbean Sea, threatening to unleash life-threatening flooding and mudslides across parts of the region later this week.
—Briana Waxman, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2025
These flat robots have multiple modes of movement, capable of jumping or crawling at multiple speeds.
—Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 18 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for crawling
Adjective
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While the original line was built for industry, pleasure excursions resumed 59 years ago, allowing visitors to experience the same scenic route at a more leisurely pace.—
Kristine Hansen,
Travel + Leisure,
29 Oct. 2025
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Kayaking - While kayaking can be a leisurely activity, strong currents or capsizing can require emergency services, especially in more remote locations like sea caves.—
Kathleen Wong,
USA Today,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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That combination of high winds and creeping progress makes Melissa both unusual and unusually dangerous.—
Sara Sneath,
The Atlantic,
28 Oct. 2025
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The chill is creeping in and the flowers that once filled your summer containers may be spent, but don't put those pots away just yet.—
Miranda Crowell,
Better Homes & Gardens,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The kitten was discovered in a parking lot tied inside a bag, dragging his back legs and covered in severe wounds.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
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When daylight savings ends next week, dragging yourself out of bed will likely feel even harder.—
Christopher Murray
may earn a commission if you buy through our referral links. This content was created by a team that works independently from the Fox newsroom.,
FOXNews.com,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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This isn’t Lovato’s first time poking fun at the meme.—
Charna Flam,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
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Or use your finger, poking it about 2 inches into the soil.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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There were flower shops spilling roses onto the sidewalk and bakery windows bursting with éclairs.—
Danielle Postel-Vinay,
PEOPLE,
27 Oct. 2025
-
Worries have been climbing that AI may be in the midst of a bubble, similar to the dot-com bonanza that ended up bursting in 2000.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Tiles also exhibited hysteresis, which was smaller at slower speeds due to the rubber’s viscoelastic properties, as reported by Nanowerk.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
2 Nov. 2025
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Levi, an electrical engineer who founded MicroKits in 2020, has had to raise prices, slow production and pause plans to launch a new product – Banan-a-Synth – that lets kids turn a bunch of bananas into a kind of keyboard.—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
2 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Or are the Seminoles at risk of sliding into irrelevance if trips to the Gator Bowl become acceptable?—
Matt Baker,
New York Times,
2 Nov. 2025
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There, people held the bus with their hands to keep it from sliding down to the next tier.—
Ryan Knighton,
AFAR Media,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The technology included corrupt automatic shuffling machines that read cards and predicted which player had the best hand.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
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Card-reading contact lenses, X-ray poker tables, trays of poker chips that read cards, hacked shuffling machines that predict hands.—
Rob Wile,
NBC news,
24 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Crawling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/crawling. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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