Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Sprawling |
SprawlingAdjective1. Spread out irregularly; "sat sprawled in the big armchair"; "the sprawling suburbs"; "a big sprawly city". 2. Spreading out carelessly (as if wandering) in different directions; "sprawling handwriting"; "straggling branches"; "straggly hair". Noun1. An ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "sprawling" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Synonyms: SprawlingSynonyms: sprawled (adj), sprawly (adj), straggling (adj), straggly (adj), sprawl (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Sprawling |
| English words defined with "sprawling": ankylosaur, ankylosaurus, Arenaria serpyllifolia, asparagus pea, Asprawl ♦ black-eyed pea ♦ Clianthus formosus, Clianthus speciosus, cowpea, cowpea plant ♦ desert pea ♦ explorer's gentian ♦ Gentiana calycosa, genus Glycine, glycine ♦ languorously, Lotus tetragonolobus ♦ martynia, Martynia annua ♦ New Zealand spinach ♦ sprawled, sprawly, Sturt pea, Sturt's desert pea ♦ Tetragonia expansa, Tetragonia tetragonioides, thyme-leaved sandwort ♦ Vigna sinensis, Vigna unguiculata ♦ winged pea. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "sprawling": sprawl. (references) |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | He made a great big, sprawling leap up the rocky wall -- and fell down flat on his back. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Argentina | With 13 million inhabitants, this sprawling metropolis serves as the focus for national life. (references) |
Brunei Darussalam | Opened in 1985, the university has a faculty of more than 300 instructors and is located on a sprawling campus overlooking the South China Sea. (references) | |
Senegal | Sandaga, a sprawling unregulated market in the heart of Dakar, is the capital's principal distribution center for manufactured goods ranging from textiles, footwear, and cosmetics to high-tech stereo equipment. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Sprawling" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 66.43% of the time. "Sprawling" is used about 143 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 66.43% | 95 | 33,629 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 32.17% | 46 | 50,285 |
| Noun (singular) | 1.4% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 143 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "sprawling": go sprawling ♦ send smb. sprawling ♦ sprawling handwriting. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
sprawling | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "sprawling"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | zvarrisës. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | разтегнат почерк (sprawling handwriting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | '散 (Floppy, sprawled). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | rozvalený, roztažený (distent, outstretched, widespread), rozrùstající se živelnì, rozlezlý, kostrbatý (crabbed, gritty, uneven). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | spredt forstadsbebyggelse (sprawling suburbs). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | uitwaaiering van de voorsteden (sprawling suburbs). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | affalé, étendu (spacious, spread out). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | ausbreitend (splaying, spreading, unfurling). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | που απλώνεται ακατάστατα, απλωμένος χωρίς σχέδιο. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | terpeszkedő, burjánzó (gross, prolific, prolifical, rampant, rank). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | che si stravacca. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | surlley (sprawl, tumble), sheeynt (at full stretch, dilated, drawn out, extended, flat out, laid out, low-pitched, outstretched, procumbent, prolonged, prostrate, prostrated, rakish, sprained, spreadeagled, strained, stretched, stretched out, tense, tense of moment, widespread). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | awlingspray trântit, tolãnit, lãbãrţat (baggy, scrawling), crãcãnat (bandy, bandy-legged, bow legged), agãţãtor (climbing, clinging), întins (broad, even, expanse, expansion, expansive, extensive, flat, flatly, large, lengthy, mighty, open, outspread, prone, recumbent, smooth, spacious, strained, stretched, supine, taut, tense, vast). (various references) расползающийся. (various references) koji se koprca, izvaljen. (various references) desmadejado (lanky). (various references) spretig. (various references) yayılan (contagious, expansive, invasive), genişleyen (expanding, expansive, widening, yawning), büyüyen (expanding, growing, thriving, yawning). (various references) розтягнений, що розтягся. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Sprawling" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Spratling, srawling. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "sprawling" (pronounced sprô"ling) |
| 5 | -r ô" l i ng | brawling, crawling. |
| 4 | -ô" l i ng | appalling, balling, calling, galling, hauling, installing, mothballing, recalling, stalling, walling. |
| 3 | -l i ng | ailing, ambling, angling, annealing, appealing, assailing, assembling, babbling, backpedaling, baffling, bailing, baling, bankrolling, barreling, battling, beguiling, belittling, Belling, bicycling, billing, blackmailing, boggling, boiling, Bolling, bottling, bowling, bristling, broiling, bubbling, buckling, bugling, bumbling, bundling, bungling, burgling, burling, bustling, cackling, cajoling, canceling, cancelling, Carling, ceiling, channeling, chilling, chortling, chronicling, chuckling, circling, coddling, commingling, compelling, compiling, concealing, consoling, controlling, cooling, corralling, counseling, countervailing, coupling, cowling, crackling, cradling, crippling, crumbling, cuddling, culling, curling, curtailing, cycling, dabbling, dangling, darling, dawdling, dazzling, dealing, decoupling, derailing, detailing, Dialing, disabling, disgruntling, dismantling, dispelling, dissembling, distilling, doling, doubling, dribbling, drilling, drizzling, drooling, duckling, dueling, dulling, dumpling, dwelling, dwindling, earthling, emailing, embezzling, empaneling, enabling, encircling, enrolling, entailing, entangling, entitling, equaling, excelling, expelling, extolling, failing, falling, feeling, felling, fiddling, filing, filling, fizzling, flailing, fledgling, foaling, foiling, fondling, fooling, forestalling, foretelling, fouling, foundling, freewheeling, fueling, fuelling, fulfilling, fumbling, funneling, gambling, giggling, gobbling, grappling, Grayling, grilling, groundling, groveling, growling, grueling, grumbling, gurgling, guzzling, haggling, hailing, handling, hassling, healing, heckling, helling, hilling, hobbling, holing, howling, huddling, humbling, hurdling, hurling, hurtling, hustling, idling, imperiling, inhaling, initialing, inkling, instilling, intermingling, jailing, jiggling, jostling, juggling, Keeling, killing, kindling, kneeling, labeling, leveling, lolling, Lulling, mailing, mangling, Marling, marshaling, meddling, Melling, middling, milling, mingling, mishandling, mislabeling, misspelling, modeling, mottling, muddling, mulling, mumbling, muscling, nailing, needling, nestling, nibbling, nonruling, oiling, outselling, overbilling, overhauling, overkilling, overruling, overselling, paddling, paneling, panhandling, paralleling, parboiling, parceling, paroling, patrolling, pearling, pedaling, peddling, peeling, pickling, piddling, piling, Pilling, Pindling, poling, polling, pooling, prevailing, profiling, propelling, prowling, pulling, pummeling, puzzling, quadrupling, quarreling, quelling, quibbling, quilling, Quisling, railing, rambling, rankling, rappelling, rattling, raveling, rebelling, reconciling, recycling, redoubling, reeling, refueling, regaling, rekindling, remodeling, repealing, repelling, rescheduling, reselling, resembling, reshuffling, retailing, retelling, retooling, revealing, reveling, ridiculing, Riesling, rifling, rilling, rippling, rivaling, roiling, rolling, rototilling, ruffling, ruling, rumbling, rustling, saddling, sailing, sampling, Sandling, sapling, scaling, scheduling, Schilling, schooling, scowling, scrambling, scribbling, scuttling, sealing, seedling, Seeling, selling, settling, shelling, shilling, shoveling, shriveling, shuffling, shuttling, sibling, signaling, signalling, singling, sizzling, skilling, smelling, smiling, smuggling, snarling, Snelling, snowballing, sparkling, Sparling, spelling, spilling, spiraling, spiralling, spoiling, sprinkling, squabbling, squealing, stapling, starling, startling, stealing, stenciling, sterling, stifling, stockpiling, stonewalling, storytelling, straddling, strangling, strickling, stripling, strolling, struggling, stumbling, styling, suckling, surveilling, swashbuckling, swelling, swilling, swindling, swirling, swiveling, tabling, tackling, tailing, tangling, telling, thrilling, throttling, Tilling, tingling, tinkling, toddling, toggling, toiling, tolling, tooling, toppling, totaling, totalling, toweling, trailing, trampling, traveling, travelling, trembling, trickling, trifling, trilling, tripling, trolling, troubling, tumbling, tunneling, twiddling, twinkling, twirling, unappealing, unavailing, unbundling, underling, underselling, unfailing, unfeeling, unfurling, unraveling, unsettling, unsmiling, untangling, unveiling, unwilling, veiling, waffling, waggling, wailing, warbling, weakling, welling, whaling, wheeling, whirling, whistling, whittling, wholesaling, wiggling, wiling, willing, wobbling, wrangling, wrestling, wrinkling, yearling, yelling, yodeling. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-g-i-l-n-p-r-s-w" | |
-1 letter: graplins, lapwings, sparling, springal, warsling. | |
-2 letters: graplin, inwraps, lapsing, lapwing, lawings, palings, parings, parling, parsing, rasping, sapling, sparing, warping. | |
-3 letters: algins, aligns, argils, aswirl, glairs, gnarls, grails, grains, inwrap, lapins, lasing, lawing, liangs, ligans, lingas, paling, paring, pawing, pilaws, plains, prangs, prawns, raping, rasing, rawins, ripsaw, sawing, signal, spinal, spiral, sprain, sprang, sprawl. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-g-i-l-n-p-r-s-w" | |
+3 letters: playwritings. | |
+5 letters: playwrightings. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Images: Slideshow | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
