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
Dobrina Zhekova, Travel + Leisure, 21 June 2024
On Saturday, Bay will play host to Angel City, a third-year club whose sprawling group of more than 100 owners and investors includes 14 former USWNT stars, two Wimbledon women’s champions and Olympic gold medalists in skiing and gymnastics.
—Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2024
Esther Landhuis, Quanta Magazine, 14 June 2024
Conference commissioners and media executives will watch the CFP unfold next winter, fingers crossed that the 32-day sprawl and NFL postseason don’t kneecap interest.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 13 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for sprawl 
Verb
Wilson Farm Park is another sprawling 90-acre recreational site located at the heart of the town, boasting a playground, baseball fields, and sand volleyball courts.
—Dobrina Zhekova, Travel + Leisure, 21 June 2024
On Saturday, Bay will play host to Angel City, a third-year club whose sprawling group of more than 100 owners and investors includes 14 former USWNT stars, two Wimbledon women’s champions and Olympic gold medalists in skiing and gymnastics.
—Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2024
Noun
Now, in a paper published on May 1 in Nature, researchers describe how homeostatic control extends even to the sprawl of cells and tissues that comprise our immune system.
—Esther Landhuis, Quanta Magazine, 14 June 2024
Conference commissioners and media executives will watch the CFP unfold next winter, fingers crossed that the 32-day sprawl and NFL postseason don’t kneecap interest.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 13 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for sprawl
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sprawl.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near sprawl
Cite this Entry
“Sprawl.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sprawl. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
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