How to use prowl in a sentence

30 example sentences · verb, noun

Prowl means to rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty. Example: “Watch the lioness prowling in the shrubbery for zebras.”

Examples of prowl by meaning

verbTo rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty.

Watch the lioness prowling in the shrubbery for zebras.
It's easy to sneak vandalism into Wiktionary as there are few other users prowling the Recent Changes page.
While McCarthy prowled the touchline barking orders, his opposite number watched on motionless and expressionless and, with 25 minutes to go, decided to throw on Nicolas Anelka for Kalou.2011 January 5, Mark Ashenden, “Wolverhampton 1 - 0 Chelsea”, in BBC

verbTo idle; to go about aimlessly.

That dandy has nothing better to do than prowl around town all day in his pinstripe suit.

verbTo collect by plunder.

to prowl money

nounThe act of prowling.

I'm going on a midnight prowl.

More sentences with prowl

The cat was always on the prowl for bit of string or a dangling shoelace.From the entry on the prowl
A lioness on the prowl made for a tense dung safari.2015, Caitlin O’Connell, “Baying at a Testosterone-Filled Moon”, in Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse, Chicago, Ill.…. From the entry musthy
Earlier, he watched Orion’s killer Scorpio prowling around in the western sky.2006, Alexis Wright, Carpentaria, Constable (2009), pages 485-486. From the entry Scorpio
Spies prowled Japan from the seventh century, but the secretive ninja left few written records.2000 October 15, Denver Post, page 10. From the entry ninja
Nothing connected until a solo danced by a prowling, sensual Christopher Bonomo.1998 October 26, Jennifer Dunning, “In Performance: Dance”, in New York Times, retrieved 19 Oct 2013. From the entry ships that pass in the night
Outside the little room in which the thunderbox was enclosed prowled a "sweeper" with a wickerwork basket.1994, Michael Blundell, “Towards Peace – via Ceylon”, in A Love Affair with the Sun: A Memoir of Seventy Years in Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya…. From the entry thunderbox
No longer would there be aught to fear from prowling beasts, or from the bestial Russian.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 177. From the entry bestial
The night is the time of stealthy prowling, of lightning attack, of fear, of death.1911, Charles Livingston Bull, Under the Roof of the Jungle: A Book of Animal Life in the Guiana Wilds, L.C. Page & Company, page 4. From the entry night
Maybeso the old man had not died of his terrible wounds; maybeso prowling Injuns had killed him—or white-fanged wolves.2013, Stanley Vestal, Jim Bridger - Mountain Man. From the entry injun
Two huntsmen spiders prowl Harry′s bedroom ceiling.2012, Carrie Tiffany, Mateship with Birds, Pan Macmillan Australia, unnumbered page. From the entry huntsman
His shadowed eyes prowled the young dancers.2011, Wyatt Underwood, Poems for Harley Riders and Other Transcendentals, page 45. From the entry psht
However, the best definition, I believe, is a cougar (as any wild cat) is on the prowl for fresh (young) meat!2005, CalgaryBill, “Re: What is your definition of a Cougar?”, in calgary.general (Usenet), retrieved 22 Jul 2018. From the entry cougarness
Early one morning, a tiger on the prowl overheard two mithun gossiping as they grazed in a clearing.2005, “Tseube”, in First Sun Stories: Unusual Folk Tales from the North East, Katha, published 2011, →ISBN, page 28. From the entry mithun
Out front a curb crawler prowled here, a window blinked there, music waxed and waned from a pub across the bypass.2004, David Mitchell, “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish”, in Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN, page 171. From the entry curb crawler
He’d prowled Houston’s titty bars for more than a decade, and he’d found the one woman who really lit his fire.2003, Robert Bryce, Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron, PublicAffairs, →ISBN, page 213. From the entry light someone's fire
I said: ‘Let the prowl car pass up the hill.1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 106. From the entry prowl car
The mountain lion may prowl here during any month.1915 April, Enos A. Mills, “The Forest Frontier”, in The Rocky Mountain Wonderland, Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 64. From the entry mountain lion
Sometimes, after the storms, she sensed that the mountains were prowling around the house, in two opposing lines, like a grand chain.2013, Valerie Lawson, Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers, page 216. From the entry angels moving the furniture
In a long tracking shot at the start of the film, a feral cat prowls this wasteland until it is felled by a slow-motion arrow.2010 January 25, Richard Corliss, “American Savior: Denzel Washington in Book of Eli”, in Time. From the entry tracking shot
Sanguinarians have willing donors (known as black swans); they do not prowl around the streets looking to ambush someone like Anne Rice’s vampire Lestat.2008, Rosemary Guiley, Vampires: Mysteries, Legends, And Unexplained Phenomena, page 105. From the entry sanguinarian
The Japanese, always on the prowl for something else to take out of the sea, have been longlining sharks for years, and eating them in a variety of ways.1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 144. From the entry longline
From the trees comes the doleful cry of the black-faced dioch, and the weary rustle of galagos creeping back to their nests after a meticulous night's prowl.1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 146. From the entry galago
In one cage two large, middle-aged gentlemen in top-hats and striped trousers were prowling up and down, anxiously gazing through the bars as though they were waiting for something.1934, P[amela] L[yndon] Travers, “Full Moon”, in Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins; 1), London: Gerald Howe Ltd […], →OCLC, page 158. From the entry top-hat
A prowling coyote was suspected of the cygnicide and a trap was set for him, the carcass of the swan, filled with poison, being set in the snare.1901 June 28, “Coyote Kills Black Swan. Visits Scene of His Crime and Meets Deserved Death.”, in The Examiner, volume LXXII, number 179…. From the entry cygnicide

Meaning of prowl

verb To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty.
verb To idle; to go about aimlessly.
verb To collect by plunder.

Full definition of prowl

Questions about prowl in a sentence

How do you use prowl in a sentence?: Prowl is used as a verb and noun. For example: “Watch the lioness prowling in the shrubbery for zebras.”
What is a short sentence with prowl?: “to prowl money”
What does prowl mean?: Prowl means to rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty.

Adapted from Wiktionary: prowl (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use prowl in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/prowl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.