sprawled; sprawling; sprawls
1
: to lie or sit with arms and legs spread out
2
: to spread or develop irregularly or without restraint
bushes sprawling along the road
sprawling suburbs
a sprawling narrative
3
a
: to creep or clamber awkwardly
b
archaic
: to lie thrashing or tossing about
: to cause to spread out carelessly or awkwardly
sprawled out her books on the table
1
: an irregularly spread or scattered group or mass
2
3
: the act, posture, or condition of sprawling
Examples of sprawl in a Sentence
Verb
The kids sprawled on the floor to watch TV.
She tripped and went sprawling into the table.
The city sprawls along the coastline.
The bushes were sprawling along the road.
Recent Examples on the Web
Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2025
The Eaton Fire ignited Tuesday night near a canyon in the sprawling national forest lands north of downtown Los Angeles and had exploded to more than 13,000 acres by Thursday, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said.
—Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 10 Jan. 2025
Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 11 Jan. 2025
Meanwhile, the sextet of localized blazes—the Palisades fire, the Eaton fire, the Hurst fire, the Sunset fire, the Lidia fire, and the Kenneth fire—blurred in the public mind and in the sprawl of destruction into one great undifferentiated inferno.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 10 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for sprawl 
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Verb
But Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, and the recovery effort will likely sprawl for years to come.
—Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2025
The Eaton Fire ignited Tuesday night near a canyon in the sprawling national forest lands north of downtown Los Angeles and had exploded to more than 13,000 acres by Thursday, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said.
—Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 10 Jan. 2025
Noun
The ocean that runs along its western edge makes things worse by sending cool drafts of air across the landscape: over the freeways, between the skyscrapers downtown, and east into the sprawl.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 11 Jan. 2025
Meanwhile, the sextet of localized blazes—the Palisades fire, the Eaton fire, the Hurst fire, the Sunset fire, the Lidia fire, and the Kenneth fire—blurred in the public mind and in the sprawl of destruction into one great undifferentiated inferno.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 10 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for sprawl
Dictionary Entries Near sprawl
Cite this Entry
“Sprawl.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sprawl. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
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