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
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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
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Recent Examples of scrabbling
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
Her left hand is scrabbling over the surface of the thin soil, grasping at dead leaves, something to wipe herself.
—Literary Hub, 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
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
Her left hand is scrabbling over the surface of the thin soil, grasping at dead leaves, something to wipe herself.
—Literary Hub, 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
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Friday's breakthrough came amid a major rally for the Dow, with the index climbing more than 1,200 points in the session.—
Alex Harring,Nick Wells,
CNBC,
6 Feb. 2026
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At the same time, first-time buyers now make up just 21% of the market, with the median age of a first-time buyer climbing to 40 .—
Lucas Bogardus,
Miami Herald,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Super Bowl 60 saw the Seattle Seahawks claim victory over the New England Patriots, but there were plenty of other winners — and losers — off the field during the game, with some brands scoring with their commercials and others fumbling their attempts for a loss.—
Aimee Picchi,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2026
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The Blue Demons’ guard panicked, fumbling the ball, and Fudd read her perfectly.—
Emily Adams,
Hartford Courant,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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San Francisco public schools shut down on Monday as teachers went on strike demanding improved healthcare benefits and pay raises, leaving the families of some 50,000 students scrambling for child care and meals.—
Christopher Buchanan,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Feb. 2026
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The world’s wealthiest nations are scrambling for access to metals and minerals buried underground in Africa in order to safeguard their economic and geostrategic interests, from gold to protect against Washington’s erratic trade policies to copper needed for the AI boom.—
Alexis Akwagyiram,
semafor.com,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Everyone is looking for you, Mommy, everywhere.—
Adam Sabes , Michael Ruiz , Greg Wehner,
FOXNews.com,
5 Feb. 2026
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There are no driver's licenses, no credit cards and other paper trail with which to start looking.—
Kristine Phillips,
IndyStar,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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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
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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
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Hurzeler is probably safe for the rest of the season before a summer review of how things stand for a club with ambitions to build on reaching Europe for the first time in 2022-23 by competing regularly in the top half of the table and for their first domestic silverware.—
Andy Naylor,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
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Fransein said peer mentors are wonderful at reaching clients in ways attorneys can’t.—
Raynee Howell,
Oklahoma Watch,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Scrabbling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scrabbling. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
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