SPRAWLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sprawling mean? 

• SPRAWLING (noun)
  The noun SPRAWLING has 1 sense:

1. an ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about

  Familiarity information: SPRAWLING used as a noun is very rare.

• SPRAWLING (adjective)
  The adjective SPRAWLING has 1 sense:

1. spreading out in different directions or distributed irregularly

  Familiarity information: SPRAWLING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPRAWLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

sprawl; sprawling

Hypernyms ("sprawling" is a kind of...):

attitude; position; posture (the arrangement of the body and its limbs)

Derivation:

sprawl (sit or lie with one's limbs spread out)

• SPRAWLING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spreading out in different directions or distributed irregularly

Synonyms:

rambling; sprawling; straggling; straggly

Context example:

straggly hair

Similar:

untidy (not neat and tidy)

 Context examples 

Sprawling black zones on the map represent areas where a landing spacecraft would sink into fine dust.

(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)

It was ridiculous and ungainly, lying there on his back with legs sprawling in the air.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right and he was sprawling on his back on the floor.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"Its work is done," Martin said, as they seated themselves, she upon his coat, and he sprawling close to the warm earth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has discovered a faint but sprawling glow of high-energy light around a nearby pulsar.

(NASA’s Fermi Mission Links Nearby Pulsar’s Gamma-ray ‘Halo’ to Antimatter Puzzle, NASA)

Here and there by the wayside stood little knots of wattle-and-daub huts with shock-haired laborers lounging by the doors and red-cheeked children sprawling in the roadway.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sprawling patch of detritus, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, contains nearly 80,000 tons of plastic, a study released Thursday found.

(Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch Growing Rapidly, Study Finds, VOA)

Lord John's rifle cracked, and the king sank down, a tangled red sprawling thing, upon the ground.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Leach was the last to go, falling sheer back from the top of the scuttle and striking on head and shoulders upon his sprawling mates beneath.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Stephen Houston, professor of archaeology and anthropology at Brown University, told the BBC that the revelation of the sprawling Central American civilization was "breathtaking."

(Hidden Mayan Civilization Revealed in Guatemala Jungle, VOA)