Sprawling

How to spell sprawling

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sprawling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sprawling mean?

1. adjectiveSpreading out over a large area in an irregular, unplanned way.
2. verbSitting or lying with the arms and legs spread out loosely.

Sprawling in a sentence

• adjective

  The company built a sprawling campus on the edge of town.

• verb

  The dog was sprawling across the sofa when she got home.

• adjective

  They bought a sprawling farmhouse with land on every side.

• verb

  He ended up sprawling on the grass after the long hike.

Where does sprawling come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English verb spreawlian, which meant 'to move the limbs convulsively' or 'to toss about', the sort of restless kicking a child or animal does. It belongs to a small family of Germanic words for clumsy, uncontrolled spreading, and over the centuries the convulsive sense softened into the idea of simply stretching out loosely and untidily. By the time the present participle 'sprawling' became common, it was used both for a person slouched with limbs flung wide and, figuratively, for towns, gardens, and writing that spread out in a loose, unplanned way. The spelling keeps the distinctive 'spr-' cluster and the 'aw' that mirrors the drawled vowel, with the everyday '-ing' ending stacked on top. Because the root is native English rather than borrowed, there are no silent letters or foreign quirks to trip over.

How the word is built

• sprawl (to spread out limbs or extend irregularly)
• -ing (present participle / adjective suffix)