drawling

verb

present participle of drawl
as in speaking
to speak slowly with vowel sounds that are longer than usual He drawled his name in a Southern accent.

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of drawling His drawling, winking charm is front and center, and his attraction to our heroine feels both genuine and even quite protective, but his violent streak is so blasé as to be unnerving. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 7 June 2026 Daniel Craig stars as Benoit Blanc, a Southern-drawling Hercule Poirot-style private detective who helps a wealthy family uncover the truth behind the death of their beloved patriarch (Christopher Plummer). — Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for drawling
  1. speaking
  2. shouting
  3. uttering
  4. saying
  5. whispering
  6. sounding
Verb
  • Grammatically speaking, transitivity is noncontingent, referencing the direct action of a subject on an object.
    — Jeffrey Weiss, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • There’s plenty of decadence to go around, not only in the amenities and treatments but culinarily speaking—a surprise seven-course chef’s table dinner at Rumari Counter is good for the soul—and the combination is divine.
    — Kathryn Romeyn, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of speaking
Verb
  • The two of them spent the rest of the night pressed together in the crowded bar, shouting at each other to be heard over the sound of drunk youth.
    — Josephine Reisman, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Kelce said lovingly before shouting out how quickly and thoroughly Swift picked up all there is to know about his sport.
    — Mitchell Peters, Billboard, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of shouting
Verb
  • Brennaman was off the air for four years after uttering a homophobic slur on a live microphone during a Cincinnati Reds game.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 24 Sep. 2026
  • The other was a tearing beauty, a creature so lovely that one look at her sent young men’s blood pressure skyward and set them to uttering wild, hoarse cries and tearing telephone directories apart with the bare hands.
    — John Madson, Outdoor Life, 1 July 2026
Definition of uttering
Verb
  • Carmella is also still mad at Vicki for saying that Danny is raising her kids, and Heather is angry after learning that Vicki called her fake in Palm Springs.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
  • In 2013 the agency issued a rule saying the exclusion should apply only when an orphan drug is actually used for the rare condition it was designated for.
    — John Mildenberger, STAT, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of saying
Verb
  • Eventually, my mother comes downstairs again and puts her arms around him and holds him, whispering something to him, words that to me are meaningless and incomprehensible.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026
  • On multiple occasions, she could be heard whispering her husband’s answers as Sandusky struggled to hear.
    — Mark Puleo, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of whispering
Verb
  • Amicus briefs in opposition by civil rights groups, industry workers, and First Amendment advocates are sounding the alarm and must be taken into account.
    — Abigail Disney, New York Daily News, 28 Sep. 2026
  • On the heels of a normal-sounding nominee for surgeon general comes another normal-sounding nominee for the FDA.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of sounding

Browse Nearby Words

drawled
drawling
drawls
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Drawling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drawling. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of tittle

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All