1
as in climbing
to move (as up or over something) often with the help of the hands in holding or pulling
the toddler scrambled up the stairs
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in disrupting
to undo the proper order or arrangement of
scrambled the letters of the word
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of scrambling
On Day 29 of the crisis, senators are scrambling to ease the potential fallout for people who receive services, including military pay and the nation's largest food stamp program, SNAP, which helps feed approximately 42 million Americans.
—
Kathryn Palmer, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
At least six people have died on Whitney in the past two years, most of them on the Mountaineer’s Route — a shorter but steeper alternative to the main trail that involves scrambling on rocks.
—Bay Area News Group, Mercury News, 29 Oct. 2025
The United States is already scrambling to learn what sort of space capabilities China has, what the CCP is building, and what China’s real intentions are.
—Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
For example, instead of scrambling eggs in butter, try using a tablespoon of healthy oil, like olive oil or avocado oil.
—Jillian Kubala, Health, 27 Oct. 2025
The looming closure of the Miramar Landfill in four to six years has San Diego officials scrambling to make big changes at the site and come up with a plan for where to dispose of the city’s future trash.
—David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Oct. 2025
This play is even more tempting given how many quarterbacks have had success scrambling against the Chiefs' defense.
—Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
To your point, Martha, those are things the White House should have done in advance of the construction project, not scrambling after.
—ABC News, 26 Oct. 2025
Meanwhile, food pantries already facing record demand are scrambling to prepare for an unprecedented level of need.
—Marissa Meador, IndyStar, 24 Oct. 2025
Kathryn Palmer, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
At least six people have died on Whitney in the past two years, most of them on the Mountaineer’s Route — a shorter but steeper alternative to the main trail that involves scrambling on rocks.
—Bay Area News Group, Mercury News, 29 Oct. 2025
The United States is already scrambling to learn what sort of space capabilities China has, what the CCP is building, and what China’s real intentions are.
—Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
For example, instead of scrambling eggs in butter, try using a tablespoon of healthy oil, like olive oil or avocado oil.
—Jillian Kubala, Health, 27 Oct. 2025
The looming closure of the Miramar Landfill in four to six years has San Diego officials scrambling to make big changes at the site and come up with a plan for where to dispose of the city’s future trash.
—David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Oct. 2025
This play is even more tempting given how many quarterbacks have had success scrambling against the Chiefs' defense.
—Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
To your point, Martha, those are things the White House should have done in advance of the construction project, not scrambling after.
—ABC News, 26 Oct. 2025
Meanwhile, food pantries already facing record demand are scrambling to prepare for an unprecedented level of need.
—Marissa Meador, IndyStar, 24 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scrambling
Verb
-
From the transistor pioneers of the 1950s to the dense GPU networks of today, computing’s pace is climbing an exponential curve.—
Chelsea Haney
October 30,
New Atlas,
30 Oct. 2025
-
The monkey was also seen climbing a pole and atop the store's displays as people tried to coax it back to its owner.—
Julia Gomez,
USA Today,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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And that crackdown is disrupting the global remittance market.—
NPR,
NPR,
29 Oct. 2025
-
This prevents stray heat from disrupting the atoms’ oscillations.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Oct. 2025
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
-
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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The technology included corrupt automatic shuffling machines that read cards and predicted which player had the best hand.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
-
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
Verb
-
Perplexity’s image features photographs of people with some truly nightmarish distortions on its wall, while the placement of its sink is confusing and distracting.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
25 Oct. 2025
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This was out of respect for me, and also to avoid confusing the children.—
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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A lot of disturbing things happened in The Exorcist — Regan MacNeil's 360 neck turn remains one of the most diabolical things to happen on film — and for its innovations, the 1973 movie scored 10 Oscar nominations.—
Stephanie Sengwe,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
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With words infallibly falling short, Pritam mingled realism with a fragmentary style of narration that meshes together social encounters, violent episodes, vivid metaphors, disturbing dreams, memories, intimate self-reflections, and introspection on society.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scrambling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scrambling. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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