How to use scrawl in a sentence
33 example sentences · noun, verb
Scrawl means irregular, poor handwriting; especially, such writing that is illegible. Example: “She scrawled the main points onto her notepad.”
Examples of scrawl by meaning
verbTo write something hastily or illegibly.
- She scrawled the main points onto her notepad.
More sentences with scrawl
- He scrawled his signature on the receipt with quick disregard for legibility.From the entry scrawled
- He defaced the I.O.U. notes by scrawling "void" over them.From the entry deface
- The doctor illegibly scrawled his signature: if it weren't on his letterhead, no-one would know who had written it.From the entry illegibly
- The doctor's scrawled signature was almost unreadable.From the entry scrawled
- One of the poutinerie's walls bears the scrawled names of current and former staff.2022 December 27, Eric Andrew-Gee, “How immigrants from Benin saved a Quebec town's storied poutinerie”, in The Globe and Mail, archived…. From the entry poutinerie
- I also Tippexed out the swear-words that I'd scrawled over the Tippexed-out November gigs.2011, Andy Kind, Stand Up and Deliver: A Nervous Rookie on the Comedy Circuit, →ISBN. From the entry tippex
- Forget the certifiables who are scrawling Hitler mustaches on pictures of the president.2009 August 22, Bob Herbert, “Voices of Anxiety”, in New York Times. From the entry certifiable
- The awakening world scrawled ‘Here Be Dragons’ across the unknown territory.2004, Nornie Campbell, No Dragons Here, page 253. From the entry here be dragons
- He had never seen any other handwriting like Kate's loopy scrawl.2000, Elizabeth Lutzeier, Bound for America, Oxford University Press, pages 103-104. From the entry wordful
- Time was I used to blush at the words scrawled on fences, and now I hear them—everywhere.1988, Howard Engel, chapter 6, in A Victim Must Be Found, Markham, Ont.: Viking, →ISBN, page 70. From the entry Humphrey
- The words were scrawled on the paper, which had fallen out of an old wallet.1987 December, Roy Herbert, “Dog Sugar Item Roger”, in New Scientist, volume 116, number 1592/1593, page 39, column 1. From the entry ursicide
- The last thing written is in a trailing scrawl of elf-letters: they are coming.1954, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, London: George Allen &…. From the entry get out
- He was infuriated, and wrote forthwith a challenge to Daniel scrawled on a newspaper headsheet.1934, Hervey Allen, Israfel: The Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe, page 614. From the entry headsheet
- As he spoke, soldiers scrawled messages of retribution on the wings of a dozen drones, each packed with thermobaric explosives.2026 June 10, Marc Santora, “A Twist in Ukraine’s Drone Campaign Is ‘Really Hurting the Russians’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry thermobaric
- Letter by painful letter we scrawl together.2016, Danny Scheinmann, The Half Life of Joshua Jones, London: Unbound, →ISBN, page 262. From the entry scrape
- I picked it up and smiled when I saw a message scrawled across the mug in black Nikko.2014, Kelly Carrero, Contained (Evolution Series Book 5). From the entry nikko
- Then he noticed a piece of paper resting on the bedtable with sloppy words scrawled in black ink.2008, Scott Campbell, “In 916”, in Decoys: A Novel, Petal Press, →ISBN, page 141. From the entry moronicism
- “Did you see my new tattoo?” Pulling her halter aside, the flirt revealed her new tat, Grand scrawled across her breast.2003, J Sebastian, The Bridge is Over, page 26. From the entry silicones
- 'Mahler had gone to town scrawling alterations all over it.1993 May 20, Stephen Roe, quotee, “MUSIC / Technique: Settling a few old scores: Stephen Roe and Simon Maguire are manuscript detectives.…. From the entry penship
- In sometimes painful penpersonship, they scrawled their answers.1977 February 16, “Let women drive diesels, children say”, in The Daily Universe, volume 30, number 106, Provo, Utah, page 8. From the entry penpersonship
- In great confusion, Gordon accepted the letter, broke its small crested seal, and began reading the neat back-hand scrawl.1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XIII, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 135. From the entry crested
- And before he died, Taran-Ish had scrawled upon the altar of chrysolite with coarse shaky strokes the sign of DOOM.1920, H. P. Lovecraft, The Doom that Came to Sarnath. From the entry chrysolite
- I don't even recognize the handwriting – kind of a scrawled, almost illegible cacography with the letters slanting haphazardly in all directions.2010, Martin L. Buxbaum, Negotiations with the Sniper: Book One, page 63. From the entry cacography
- “If I must die, I beg it be done quickly,” reads one heartrending scrawl, signed by a man known only as Anthony.2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave…. From the entry heartrending
- The faint, yet growing escapings of gas were in her nostrils as she slumped into a chair and began painfully to scrawl on the paper.1947, Joseph Dever, No Lasting Home, page 406. From the entry escaping
- A potential buyer of The Princess had refused to purchase unless Whistler modified his pinxit, scrawled across a corner of the canvas.1941, Frederic Jennings Haskin, The American Government, page 469. From the entry pinxit
- TOURTIÈRE, scrawled across the top of the white card in my mother’s unwieldy handwriting, an accent grave raising its head pointedly above the ‘E.’ Below, a list of ingredients.2018 November 30, Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé, “How a family recipe taught me what’s at stake when Franco-Ontarians lose their roots”, in…. From the entry accent grave
- In comes a snail-mail missive from a nonadmirer in Detroit enclosing that column, underlining the word anticipate and scrawling across the ripped-out page “we can expect .”2007 February 11, William Safire, “Culpa for Mayor”, in New York Times. From the entry nonadmirer
- If you're going to knock off a nooner with a co-worker at a bad motel you have to scrawl your worn Hancock on the desk blotter.2006 September 22, “Funnyman Dennis Miller Returns to FNC!”, in FOX News. From the entry nooner
- Choice lay between the red and green pillow with the beadwork dog, and the thinner patchwork one with written names scrawling over it; and the beadful dog won out.1918, International Railway Journal, volume 26. From the entry beadful
- She knew of no Peter, and yet he was here and there in John and Michael's minds, while Wendy's began to be scrawled all over with him.1911, J. M. Barrie, chapter I, in Peter Pan, Wordsworth Editions Ltd, published 1993. From the entry peter
- It was night once more and Mary had got through another day without throwing herself politely from a top floor window or scrawling filthy words on the dining room walls.1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy. From the entry politely
Meaning of scrawl
- noun Irregular, poor handwriting; especially, such writing that is illegible.
- noun A hastily or carelessly written note etc.
- noun Writing that lacks literary merit.
Questions about scrawl in a sentence
- How do you use scrawl in a sentence?
- Scrawl is used as a noun and verb. For example: “She scrawled the main points onto her notepad.”
- What is a short sentence with scrawl?
- “Letter by painful letter we scrawl together.”
- What does scrawl mean?
- Scrawl means irregular, poor handwriting; especially, such writing that is illegible.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: scrawl (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.
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Cite this page: “How to use scrawl in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/scrawl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
