SPRAWLING Synonyms: 83 Similar and Opposite Words

sprawling

verb

present participle of sprawl

as in extending

to extend outwards from or as if from a central point The suburbs sprawl for miles beyond the city's downtown.

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Dissimilar Words

as in sitting

to rest with the arms and legs spread out There's no feeling like sprawling out on your bed after a hard day's work.

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Dissimilar 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 sprawling Turning around a sprawling $21 billion business that includes hardware, creative studios, and thousands of video game titles is a task that would test even the most experienced of CEOs. — Sebastian Herrera, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026 Imagine a perfect replica of a sprawling metropolis, a Tokyo or a São Paulo, engraved at atomic dimensions on a tile the size of a fingernail. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026 The sprawling cast of HBO‘s period drama The Gilded Age gets larger every season. — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 19 Oct. 2026 For three decades, Hollywood has adapted Stine’s sprawling library of over 300 middle grade and young adult horror titles. — Abbey White, HollywoodReporter, 18 Oct. 2026 With two separate houses, a rushing creek running through the grounds, and a sauna and a cedar barrel hot tub beside the water, the sprawling estate gave our group a place to gather (or rather, frolic) between outings. — Jessica Chapel, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Oct. 2026 At the center of the sprawling property is a 10,500-square-foot residence, accessible via a mile-long drive that winds through forest and across a curved stone bridge. — Tori Latham, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2026 Meltwater from the mountain’s glaciers and thawing permafrost flows down through ancient channels, fueling the great rivers and soaking into these sprawling boglands. — Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026 Both Zhang and Miao have links to individuals involved in sprawling criminal enterprises, according to several federal court filings reviewed by CBS News. — Isabel Vincent, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sprawling

Verb

Dimitris Ampatzidis, maritime risk and compliance manager at Kpler, said the attacks underscored Iran's continuing ability to threaten commercial vessels, with the risks extending beyond oil and gas transportation.

— Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2026
For most of my career, accelerating a road map usually meant adding people, extending timelines or reducing scope.

— Luis Aburto, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of extending

Verb

Unfortunately, Mascis has developed a similar reputation as an interview subject, quietly sitting and offering deft nonanswers.

— Terrence O'Brien, The Verge, 18 Oct. 2026
There is something fitting about seeing Deakins, whose work is so often studied and dissected by others, sitting among the audience, still looking and listening.

— Callum McLennan, Variety, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of sitting

Verb

But the world’s two biggest economies have been diverging in key ways with implications for future growth and indebtedness.

— Jason Ma, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2026
In a powerfully compelling novel that brims with the cadences of the Black South, Jones explores the women’s diverging lives while using them as a lens to observe social injustice in language that is intimate, conversational, and musical.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of diverging

Verb

Note the yellow band—interest on the national debt—which is expanding fast.

— Jim Edwards, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
The agreement comes as electricity demand rises across the United States, driven partly by expanding data centers, manufacturing and electrification.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of expanding

Verb

Ultimately, six people—Skarsgård, Colman, Fischer, Wilson, intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien, and Oscar-winning cinematographer Lol Crawley—all experimented with positions together, straddling each other in odd ways to block the scenes.

— Kenneal Patterson, Vanity Fair, 14 Oct. 2026
Wiener not only leaves behind a richly complex body of work straddling textiles, painting, photographs, and collages, but also a career intricately connected to one of the most important chapters of Austrian art.

— Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of straddling

Verb

And then there’s an energetic quality, at times radiating light and other times shining it—with or without pulsing strobes—on others.

— Laura Regensdorf, Vogue, 20 Oct. 2026
Some kids come into this life and catch all the breaks and start making money and going places and radiating confidence and functionality and the world opens right up to them.

— George Saunders, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of radiating

Verb

The group has had community trapping parties and is even starting an app to locate these squatting rodents.

— Julia Avant, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026
Half were male in aura, squatting with their long lenses and beckoning confidence, always ready to pontificate, and the other half were female, a demure box into which a slide could be slipped, bringing the room to life.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of squatting

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sprawling

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“Sprawling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sprawling. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of sprawling

verb

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