How to use scrabble in a sentence

12 example sentences · verb, noun

Scrabble means to scrape or scratch powerfully with hands or claws. Example: “She was on her hands and knees scrabbling in the mud, looking for her missing wedding ring.”

Examples of scrabble by meaning

verbTo scrape or scratch powerfully with hands or claws.

In the narrower parts we had to push our way along it between bushes and brambles which scrabbled along the sides as though they tried to pull us back.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 217

verbTo gather hastily.

Since we started scrabbling for coins because the damn government took away our-- every thing.2014 March 24, Adam Reed, “On the Carpet” (19:15 from the start), in Archer, season 5, episode 9, spoken by Malory Archer (Jessica Walter)

verbTo move with difficulty by making rapid movements back and forth with the hands or paws.

She was on her hands and knees scrabbling in the mud, looking for her missing wedding ring.

verbTo mark with irregular lines or letters; to scribble on.

to scrabble paper

nounA scramble.

a scrabble for dear life

More sentences with scrabble

A cellphone rang and he scrabbled for it with clumsy fingers, his eyes already a bit glassy.2014, Maya Fowler & Isobel Dixon (translation of Karin Brynard's Plaasmoord), Weeping Waters, page 636. From the entry sharp-sharp
They will not last, but they will have to do in the thin hungry scrabble to survive.2003, “Facing the Challenges of Time and Place [5.57: On Coming Home from Kampuchea]”, in This We Can Say: Australian Quaker Life, Faith…. From the entry flimsy
I’m forever whitewashing after them, whitewashing off the scandalosities they do be scrabbling on the privy walls.1927, Kathleen Coyle, Shule Agra, New York, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton & Company, page 118. From the entry scandalosity
The vicious needles pincushioned my hands and the tree wobbled precariously as I scrabbled for a pain-free hold.2013, Pippa Wright, The Foster Husband, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, pages 87–88. From the entry pincushion
It's only a matter of time before marketers collide in the scrabble for the pink grey brown pound.2004, Sunday Times. From the entry brown pound
Squealing and still propelled by the kick, the calf scrabbled through the forest of legs and into the open.1998, Katharine Payne, Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants, page 59. From the entry forest
Sometimes she scrabbled through the drifts on hilltops and found a few wizened bearberries or a handful of rock-tripe, a kind of moss.1952, Farley Mowat, People of the Deer, Key Porter, published 2005, page 26. From the entry bearberry

Meaning of scrabble

verb To scrape or scratch powerfully with hands or claws.
verb To gather hastily.
verb To move with difficulty by making rapid movements back and forth with the hands or paws.

Full definition of scrabble

Questions about scrabble in a sentence

How do you use scrabble in a sentence?: Scrabble is used as a verb and noun. For example: “She was on her hands and knees scrabbling in the mud, looking for her missing wedding ring.”
What is a short sentence with scrabble?: “to scrabble paper”
What does scrabble mean?: Scrabble means to scrape or scratch powerfully with hands or claws.

Adapted from Wiktionary: scrabble (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 scrabble in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/scrabble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.