Sprawl Meaning
/spɹɔːl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo sit with the limbs spread out.
verbTo spread out in a disorderly fashion; to straggle.
Sentence Examples
Urban sprawl is said to be a major contributor to global warming.
Urban sprawl and chaos create many planning problems.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Over the years, the small town began to ____ into a large, disorganized city.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The urban ____ of the city has expanded significantly over the last twenty years, reaching into the hills.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There was no special place for him or his little affairs, and he was forbidden to sprawl on sofas and explain his ideas about the manufacture of this world and his hopes for the future. Sprawling was lazy and wore out sofas, and little boys were not expected to talk."
— 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Baa Baa, Black Sheep”, in The Man Who Would Be King, and Other Stories, Wordsworth Editions, published 1994, →ISBN, page 159:
"But most of all I like to sit in the dark with all these hearty souls sprawled around me on the floor and hear them talk. I am sorry to say that I can never believe that floor-sprawling is anything but a pose; I have tried it and it is not comfortable but it looks well in the flickering fire-light, and is in good magazine-story tradition."
— 1942, Louise Dickinson Rich, “‘Do You Get Out Very Often?’”, in We Took to the Woods, Down East Enterprises, published 2007, →ISBN, page 314:
"There were pillows on the floor, a few chairs, and four or five students sprawled here and there watching a football game."
— 1979, Thomas S. Spradley, James P. Spradley, chapter 6, in Deaf Like Me, Gallaudet University Press, published 1985, →ISBN, page 64:
"The hatched young ones are ſodl to thoſe who breed them up, and theſe try in the following manner whether they are hatched too ſoon or not: they take hold the little ducks by the bill, and their bodies hang down ; if they ſprawl and extend their feet and wings, they are hatched in due time ; but if they have had too much heat, they hang without any ſtruggling."
— 1771, Johann Reinhold Foster, “Birds and Beasts”, in A Voyage to China and the East Indies, volume 2, A Short Account of the Chinese Husbandry, B. White, translation of original by Carl Gustav Ekeberg, page 321:
"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"
— 1914, Herman Whitaker, Cross Trails: The Story of One Woman in the North Woods, BiblioBazaar, published 2009, →ISBN, page 116:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Over the years, the small town began to ____ into a large, disorganized city.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The urban ____ of the city has expanded significantly over the last twenty years, reaching into the hills.