Sprawl
verb
To lay or sit with arms and legs spread out untidily.
After a tough workout at the gym, he sprawled out on the couch to relax.
Often appears as...
- sprawl out
- sprawl on the couch
verb
To spread out over a large area in an irregular or messy way.
The city sprawls across the valley and up the surrounding hills.
Often appears as...
- urban sprawl
- sprawl across
noun
The careless spread of a city or other populated place across its region.
Urban sprawl contributes to traffic congestion and environmental degradation.
Often appears as...
- urban sprawl
- suburban sprawl
Usage tips
Academic
verb
To lay or sit with arms and legs spread out untidily.
After a tough workout at the gym, he sprawled out on the couch to relax.
Often appears as...
- sprawl out
- sprawl on the couch
verb
To spread out over a large area in an irregular or messy way.
The city sprawls across the valley and up the surrounding hills.
Often appears as...
- urban sprawl
- sprawl across
noun
The careless spread of a city or other populated place across its region.
Urban sprawl contributes to traffic congestion and environmental degradation.
Often appears as...
- urban sprawl
- suburban sprawl
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/2Casual Posture
Use 'sprawl' when describing someone lying or sitting in a relaxed and disorganized way.
Teenagers often sprawl on the floor while playing video games.
Pro Tip 2/2Physical Exhaustion
'Sprawl' can imply tiredness, suggesting the person can't hold themselves upright due to fatigue.
She came home and immediately sprawled over the bed, exhausted.
Pro Tip 1/2Casual Posture
Use 'sprawl' when describing someone lying or sitting in a relaxed and disorganized way.
Teenagers often sprawl on the floor while playing video games.
Pro Tip 2/2Physical Exhaustion
'Sprawl' can imply tiredness, suggesting the person can't hold themselves upright due to fatigue.
She came home and immediately sprawled over the bed, exhausted.
Pro Tip 1/2Casual Posture
Use 'sprawl' when describing someone lying or sitting in a relaxed and disorganized way.
Teenagers often sprawl on the floor while playing video games.
Pro Tip 2/2Physical Exhaustion
'Sprawl' can imply tiredness, suggesting the person can't hold themselves upright due to fatigue.
She came home and immediately sprawled over the bed, exhausted.
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Video examples
Jonathan Foley: The...
than all the areas we complain about, our suburban sprawl and our cities where we mostly live. Half of humanity lives in cities today, but a 60-times-larger area is used to grow food. So this is an amazing kind of result, and it really shocked us when we looked at that. So we're using an enormous amount of land for agriculture,
Video examples
7 principles for...
There will be more congestion. Because they're so appealing -- you can drive while reading or sleeping. Well, a couple of reasons. One is, if they're privately owned, people will travel greater distances. It'll be a new lease on life to sprawl. If you can work on your way to work, you can live in more remote locations.
Video examples
It’s time to embrace our...
they were also hit by the move to sprawl which is fundamentally reinventing our spaces around the car some of this reinvention was natural the average commute by car in this country is 24 minutes the average commute by public transit is 48 minutes but it was also helped by massive federal investment in
Video examples
How long will human...
Changes in climate or fossils found in the rock record help distinguish these epochs and help geologists tell deep time. So what will be the record of modern people's impact on the planet? It doesn't rely on the things that may seem most obvious to us today, like sprawling cities.
Video examples
Climate change will...
Sprawling cities or declining cities could see this as an opportunity to rebuild a social infrastructure rooted in justice and fairness. We could actually put money into public hospitals and help them prepare for what is to come through climate migration,
Video examples
Climate 101: Deforestatio...
Logging operations which provide the world's wood and paper products also cut countless trees each year. Forests are also destroyed as a result of growing urban sprawl, as land is developed for dwellings. The effects of deforestation are grave,
Video examples
James Kunstler: How bad...
There are a lot of ways you can describe this. You know, I like to call it "the national automobile slum." You can call it suburban sprawl. I think it's appropriate to call it the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.
Video examples
Why glass towers are bad...
gives the plaza a theatrical quality. It becomes a stage where the generations can meet. You have teenagers sprawling on the pavers, seniors monopolizing the benches, and real life starts to look like an opera set.
Video examples
The sharks that hunt in...
fish lay eggs amidst their sprawling, complex root systems. Symbiotic sponges and sea squirts protect their host trees from hungry woodboring crustaceans. Crabs, snails, and shrimp eat algae, mussels, barnacles,
Video examples
Hammerhead Sharks Gather...
towering sea mounts attract fish in their millions deep ocean currents are forced to the surface bringing nutrients which feed the sprawling masses
Video examples
Jonathan Foley: The...
than all the areas we complain about, our suburban sprawl and our cities where we mostly live. Half of humanity lives in cities today, but a 60-times-larger area is used to grow food. So this is an amazing kind of result, and it really shocked us when we looked at that. So we're using an enormous amount of land for agriculture,
Video examples
7 principles for...
There will be more congestion. Because they're so appealing -- you can drive while reading or sleeping. Well, a couple of reasons. One is, if they're privately owned, people will travel greater distances. It'll be a new lease on life to sprawl. If you can work on your way to work, you can live in more remote locations.
Video examples
It’s time to embrace our...
they were also hit by the move to sprawl which is fundamentally reinventing our spaces around the car some of this reinvention was natural the average commute by car in this country is 24 minutes the average commute by public transit is 48 minutes but it was also helped by massive federal investment in
Video examples
How long will human...
Changes in climate or fossils found in the rock record help distinguish these epochs and help geologists tell deep time. So what will be the record of modern people's impact on the planet? It doesn't rely on the things that may seem most obvious to us today, like sprawling cities.
Video examples
Climate change will...
Sprawling cities or declining cities could see this as an opportunity to rebuild a social infrastructure rooted in justice and fairness. We could actually put money into public hospitals and help them prepare for what is to come through climate migration,
Video examples
Climate 101: Deforestatio...
Logging operations which provide the world's wood and paper products also cut countless trees each year. Forests are also destroyed as a result of growing urban sprawl, as land is developed for dwellings. The effects of deforestation are grave,
Video examples
James Kunstler: How bad...
There are a lot of ways you can describe this. You know, I like to call it "the national automobile slum." You can call it suburban sprawl. I think it's appropriate to call it the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.
Video examples
Why glass towers are bad...
gives the plaza a theatrical quality. It becomes a stage where the generations can meet. You have teenagers sprawling on the pavers, seniors monopolizing the benches, and real life starts to look like an opera set.
Video examples
The sharks that hunt in...
fish lay eggs amidst their sprawling, complex root systems. Symbiotic sponges and sea squirts protect their host trees from hungry woodboring crustaceans. Crabs, snails, and shrimp eat algae, mussels, barnacles,
Video examples
Hammerhead Sharks Gather...
towering sea mounts attract fish in their millions deep ocean currents are forced to the surface bringing nutrients which feed the sprawling masses
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Gary Oldman
English Actor
It's a shame about California, and particularly about L.A., where they've demolished so many landmarks. It's a bit of a disease there, where if anything is over 30 years old, they sort of knock it down and replace it. It's a strange town, it's this sprawling suburb, and then there's a city, the old town.
Quote examples
Steve Martin
American Comedian
L.A. is only where you live, because otherwise it's just a sprawling mass of everything, and I think if you live in L.A., you get a little network of places you go, and people you see, and when you leave town, you do miss those places and your friends.
Quote examples
Kenneth Grahame
Scottish Novelist
Animals when in company walk in a proper and sensible manner, in single file, instead of sprawling all across the road and being of no use or support to each other in case of sudden trouble or danger.
Quote examples
Eric Schlosser
American Journalist
McDonald's has been extraordinary at site selection; it was a pioneer in studying the best places for retail locations. One of the things it did is study very carefully where sprawl was headed.
Quote examples
Greta Gerwig
American Actress
I love big, sprawling movies where there are too many characters, and people get introduced halfway through, and you're like, 'Wait, who are these people?
Quote examples
Charlotte Ritchie
English Actress
It's always incredible though when you feel like the writer knows the character intimately and can see their life sprawling away outside of the show.
Quote examples
Alan Rickman
British Actor
You know, London is so sprawling, and you can sometimes forget that anybody else is on a stage anywhere else.
Quote examples
Harry Seidler
Australian Architect
Fifty years ago people were talking about Sydney's sprawl, but nobody does anything about it.
Quote examples
Cheo Hodari Coker
American Journalist
Clockers' - as much as it is a very focused crime drama, it sprawls.
Quote examples
Richard Lamm
American Politician
Sprawl is the American ideal way to develop.
Quote examples
Gary Oldman
English Actor
It's a shame about California, and particularly about L.A., where they've demolished so many landmarks. It's a bit of a disease there, where if anything is over 30 years old, they sort of knock it down and replace it. It's a strange town, it's this sprawling suburb, and then there's a city, the old town.
Quote examples
Steve Martin
American Comedian
L.A. is only where you live, because otherwise it's just a sprawling mass of everything, and I think if you live in L.A., you get a little network of places you go, and people you see, and when you leave town, you do miss those places and your friends.
Quote examples
Kenneth Grahame
Scottish Novelist
Animals when in company walk in a proper and sensible manner, in single file, instead of sprawling all across the road and being of no use or support to each other in case of sudden trouble or danger.
Quote examples
Eric Schlosser
American Journalist
McDonald's has been extraordinary at site selection; it was a pioneer in studying the best places for retail locations. One of the things it did is study very carefully where sprawl was headed.
Quote examples
Greta Gerwig
American Actress
I love big, sprawling movies where there are too many characters, and people get introduced halfway through, and you're like, 'Wait, who are these people?
Quote examples
Charlotte Ritchie
English Actress
It's always incredible though when you feel like the writer knows the character intimately and can see their life sprawling away outside of the show.
Quote examples
Alan Rickman
British Actor
You know, London is so sprawling, and you can sometimes forget that anybody else is on a stage anywhere else.
Quote examples
Harry Seidler
Australian Architect
Fifty years ago people were talking about Sydney's sprawl, but nobody does anything about it.
Quote examples
Cheo Hodari Coker
American Journalist
Clockers' - as much as it is a very focused crime drama, it sprawls.
Quote examples
Richard Lamm
American Politician
Sprawl is the American ideal way to develop.
Example 1 of 10
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