sprawl

CEFRB2

/spɹɔːl/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To lie or sit with arms and legs spread widely.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To scoot the legs backwards, so as to land on the upper back of an opponent attempting a takedown.

Examples

  • Urban sprawl and chaos create many planning problems.

  • Urban sprawl is said to be a major contributor to global warming.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /spɹoːl/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To spread out in a disorderly fashion; to straggle.

  2. To sit with the limbs spread out.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. An ungainly sprawling posture.

More examples

In context

  • There were pillows on the floor, a few chairs, and four or five students sprawled here and there watching a football game.

  • Bell sprawled full length to turn a Sandaza drive wide of the far post, but Saints had done enough to inflict Killie's first home defeat of the season.

  • A shrewd blow, it caught him off balance, and after one ineffectual stagger he sprawled backward and lay for a moment staring up in blank surprise

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Over the years, the small town began to blank into a large, disorganized city.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English spraulen, from Old English spreawlian (“move convulsively”), ultimately through a Proto-Germanic form cognate with *spreutaną (“to sprout”) from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to strew”). Compare North Frisian spraweli, Norwegian sprala, Swedish sprala.