1
as in climbing
to move (as up or over something) often with the help of the hands in holding or pulling
we scrabbled up a sand dune to get a better view of the sea
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in fumbling
to search for something blindly or uncertainly
he frantically scrabbled through the storage chest looking for the needed documents
Synonyms & Similar Words
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 scrabbling
That left the administration scrabbling for other ways to reimpose duties that were struck down.
—
Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 12 Mar. 2026
Next went Marshall Allen, hands on his sax like feral scrabbling mice.
—Literary Hub, 13 Feb. 2026
This left the ruling Labour Party scrabbling.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 26 Nov. 2025
He’s blessed with a tense, scrabbling physicality on screen, plus a baby-Brando glower beneath a head of striking blond curls, and Nemes directs him into a stance of braced, vulnerable defensiveness that serves the film’s purposes well — even if his character, too, wants for interior light.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 28 Aug. 2025
The young Canadian couple are recent transplants to the French capital, having logged a decade as content creators, performance artists and DJs fond of zombie makeup and body dysphoria, slowly scrabbling their way onto the international fashion scene.
—Miles Socha, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 12 Mar. 2026
Next went Marshall Allen, hands on his sax like feral scrabbling mice.
—Literary Hub, 13 Feb. 2026
This left the ruling Labour Party scrabbling.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 26 Nov. 2025
He’s blessed with a tense, scrabbling physicality on screen, plus a baby-Brando glower beneath a head of striking blond curls, and Nemes directs him into a stance of braced, vulnerable defensiveness that serves the film’s purposes well — even if his character, too, wants for interior light.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 28 Aug. 2025
The young Canadian couple are recent transplants to the French capital, having logged a decade as content creators, performance artists and DJs fond of zombie makeup and body dysphoria, slowly scrabbling their way onto the international fashion scene.
—Miles Socha, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scrabbling
Verb
-
Nighttime temperatures are forecast to bottom out near 67 degrees with wind gusts climbing as high as 20 mph.—
Suryatapa Chakraborty,
Dallas Morning News,
21 Mar. 2026
-
This will set the stage for a pretty nice weekend with highs climbing into the 60s again on Saturday.—
Bill Kelly,
CBS News,
21 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
This alone can shave valuable minutes off your screening and help you to breeze through the scanner instead of fumbling at the bins.—
Kayla Kitts,
Travel + Leisure,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Kathy Ireland accused her former team of fumbling her multimillion-dollar fortune, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.—
Tracy Wright,
FOXNews.com,
11 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Officials have been scrambling to ease prices.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
17 Mar. 2026
-
This, in turn, can leave you scrambling to cover basic expenses, especially if your finances were already stretched thin to begin with.—
Angelica Leicht,
CBS News,
16 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
In any case, its proximity is ideal for those looking for quick and easy access to nature.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
19 Mar. 2026
-
The committee is also looking for a year-long contract extension for union health benefits.—
Gayla Cawley,
Boston Herald,
19 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The piece is a collection of disused shoemaker boxes, once used by cobblers to keep tools, pressed against each other and stacked up, clambering toward the ceiling.—
Edna Bonhomme,
Artforum,
1 Oct. 2025
-
By the end of the night, so many fans had crowd-surfed from the pit to the stage, clambering onto the platform, that the band members were barely visible.—
Audrey Gibbs,
Nashville Tennessean,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The Wall Street Journal reported that one of the projectiles was intercepted by a US warship while the other failed mid-flight before reaching the target area.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
22 Mar. 2026
-
The fire grew throughout Saturday, reaching 4,595 acres by Sunday morning, and remains at 0% containment.—
Christa Swanson,
CBS News,
22 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Scrabbling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scrabbling. Accessed 24 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
