How to use sprawl in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Sprawl means to sit with the limbs spread out. Example: “But most of all I like to sit in the dark with all these hearty souls sprawled around me on the floor and hear them talk.”

Examples of sprawl by meaning

verbTo sit with the limbs spread out.

But most of all I like to sit in the dark with all these hearty souls sprawled around me on the floor and hear them talk.1942, Louise Dickinson Rich, “‘Do You Get Out Very Often?’”, in We Took to the Woods, Down East Enterprises, published 2007, →ISBN, page 314
There were pillows on the floor, a few chairs, and four or five students sprawled here and there watching a football game.1979, Thomas S. Spradley, James P. Spradley, chapter 6, in Deaf Like Me, Gallaudet University Press, published 1985, →ISBN, page 64

verbTo spread out in a disorderly fashion; to straggle.

A shrewd blow, it caught him off balance, and after one ineffectual stagger he sprawled backward and lay for a moment staring up in blank surprise1914, Herman Whitaker, Cross Trails: The Story of One Woman in the North Woods, BiblioBazaar, published 2009, →ISBN, page 116
Bell sprawled full length to turn a Sandaza drive wide of the far post, but Saints had done enough to inflict Killie's first home defeat of the season.2011 October 1, Clive Lindsay, “Kilmarnock 1 – 2 St Johnstone”, in BBC Sport

nounA straggling, haphazard growth, especially of housing on the edge of a city.

He briefly compares the relative merits of providing for that growth by the usual method of urban sprawl and by directing it into suburban satellite communities with the integrity preserved and comes out strongly for the latter method.1948 October, Terry B. Augur, “The Dispersal of Cities—A Feasible Program”, in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume 4, number 10...
Many of our past difficulties in dealing with sprawl come from some very mistaken if widely held assumptions.1959 August 17, William H. Whye Jr., “A Plan to Save Vanishing U.S. Countryside”, in Life, volume 47, number 7, Time, Inc, →ISSN, page 92

More sentences with sprawl

This time, the problem lies in Shenzhen, a sprawling metropolis adjacent to Hong Kong in southeastern China.2021 June 21, Keith Bradsher, “Chinese port difficulties amid a Covid outbreak further snarl global trade.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN…. From the entry Shenzhen
A sprawling, mountainous administrative region in the south of Shanxi province, Jincheng is still dominated by coal.2018 November 26, David Stanway, Joseph Campbell, Muyu Xu, Shanghai newsroom, “Smog war casualty: China coal city bears brunt of pollution…. From the entry Jincheng
Few places on the planet are as isolated as Palau, or as sprawling.2016 February 17, Ian Urbina, “Palau vs. the Poachers”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Feb 2016. From the entry palau
For many residents, a monocrop of million-dollar homes is nearly as awful a nightmare as suburban sprawl.2015 November 3, Greg Beato, “Communities Come Together to Make Homes More Affordable”, in New York Times. From the entry monocrop
The sprawling blue lake in B.C.'s North Okanagan region is the houseboating capital of Canada.2009 July 25, Jeremy Ferguson, “Whiling away the days on a voyage of discovery”, in Toronto Star. From the entry houseboating
Harry had a bong after his swim and then sprawled on the couch watching music videos.2008, Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap, London: Atlantic Books, page 115. From the entry bong
My awkward sprawl sent Morgan and Carl into shrills of laughter.2008, Donna Milner, After River, London: Quercus, →ISBN, page 63. From the entry gibbled
Fleshy, fantastic and sprawling, her elaboration of unnaturality is distinguished by two factors.2004, Tessa Jackson, Artes Mundi, Artes Mundi: Wales international visual art prize 2004. From the entry unnaturality
Most often seen in older or historic gardens, dwarf morning glory (Convolvulus tricolor) forms a sprawling mound.2003, Southern Living, “No Longer in Morning”, in Southern Living 2003 Garden Annual, Birmingham, Ala.: Oxmoor House, →ISBN, “June”…. From the entry dwarf morning glory
Létourneau's art and music activities sprawl across so many international and interdisciplinary borders that they defy blurbification.2001 September 12, Lee Gardner, “You Can't Tell the Players Without a Program”, in Baltimore City Paper. From the entry blurbification
Is that champagne you're slurping on, as you lay sprawled in the tubbie?2000 May 2, Char Chaffin, “xfc: NEW, "Hollywood Bath-Time", by C. Chaffin, Post-Ep, MSR, R”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet), archived…. From the entry tubbie
In the west, an ugly industrial zone sprawls from Doilungdêqên past the Norbulinka to the Potala.1992 February, Robert Strauss, “Lhasa”, in Tibet: A Travel Survival Kit (Lonely Planet), 2nd edition, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 103, column 2. From the entry Doilungdêqên
Here, an entire tribe of Ockers may be observed within the confines of the suburban sprawl.1990, “Meanjin”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 49, University of Melbourne, page 139. From the entry ocker
Cheticamp is an Acadian fishing village sprawling bare on windblown rocks.1942, Dorothy Duncan, Bluenose: A Portrait of Nova Scotia, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, pages 231–259; republished in Brian…. From the entry codliver
The wolfdog sprawls on his back, wriggling obscenely with begging paws, his long black tongue lolling out.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 2]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC. From the entry wolf dog
In mercy I put a bullet through his skull, and he fell sprawling among the aloes.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC. From the entry aloe
The pampas is renowned for its sprawling grasslands, which are home to unique species of grasses, including Paspalum, Aristida, and Stipa.2025, Joann Mendez, Pampas Paradise: Embracing the Natural Beauty of Argentina's Grasslands. From the entry pampas
Even for El’s supportive parents, conceiving of gender as a multidimensional sprawl has not been so easy to grasp.2019 May 29, Amy Harmon, “Which Box Do You Check? Some States Are Offering a Nonbinary Option”, in The New York Times, archived from the…. From the entry multidimensional
It was a lazy summer afternoon, and we were sprawled across a few couches sharing a bowl of popcorn.2017, Bob Berman, Zapped: From Infrared to X-rays, the Curious History of Invisible Light, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, pages 8-9. From the entry light
It’s a sprawling, self-moderating system — and generally, it works.2014 April 8, Caitlin Dewey, “Men’s rights activists think a “hateful” feminist conspiracy is ruining Wikipedia”, in The Washington Post…. From the entry self-moderating
The city is very spread out and continues to sprawl outward and consume more and more real estate.2011, Cat Schmidt, Peripheral Vision, →ISBN, page 1. From the entry spread out
The forest canopy sprawled above them full of holes.2010, Adam Lifshey, As Green as Paradise, page 68. From the entry leafstorm
About twenty young men in varying states of dilapidation and dandification sat and sprawled around a table covered in green baize.2010, Graham Robb, Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris, page 122. From the entry dandification
Stairs descended to larders, pantries were cleverly nooked into alcoves, and beyond the open windows sprawled lush gardens.2009, Karen Marie Moning, Beyond the Highland Mist. From the entry nook
To cater for the new army of motorists, a sprawling infrastructure of petrol stations, motels and car parks crept across Britain.2009 February 16, Tristram Hunt, “Clarkson's philistines would appal these pootling pioneers”, in The Guardian. From the entry plotland
The Migrant Fleet is the largest concentration of starfaring vessels in the galaxy, sprawling across millions of kilometers.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Quarians: Migrant Fleet Codex entry. From the entry starfaring
It was a small pretty town with four minarets and one campanile and the Pasha's konak sprawling across the foothills.2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Against the Day”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 841. From the entry konak
Dwarf morning-glories are bushy and sprawl instead of climbing.2001, Anne Halpin, “Convolvulus tricolor: Dwarf morning-glory”, in Annuals, Perennials & Bulbs, Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Creative…. From the entry dwarf morning-glory
These plants—also called western ragweed—populate the sprawling southwestern flatlands of the Mojave, the Sonoran, and the Great Basin deserts.1995, Bill Branon, “Melody”, in Devils Hole, New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 45. From the entry ambrosia
Mansions and workers' two-up-two-downs sprawled all over the town, higgledy-piggledy.1992, Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century: The perspective of the world. From the entry two-up-two-down
Tsetong, the capital of Shannan prefecture, has merged with Nêdong into a sprawl of Tibetan and Chinese buildings.1992, Robert Strauss, “Yarlung Valley Monasteries & Sites”, in Tibet: A Travel Survival Kit (Lonely Planet), 2nd edition, →ISBN, →OCLC…. From the entry Shannan
Marine iguanas line the shores of the islands, and are usually seen sprawled over lava rocks near the sea.1991, Martha Holmes, Sea Trek, BBC Books, page 44. From the entry lava
The act at the Alamo began with Jackson sprawled on a chair and pretending to be smoking opium.1991, Jimmy Breslin, Damon Runyon, New York, N.Y.: Ticknor & Fields, →ISBN, pages 176–177. From the entry toy
The transporters, they were resting, sprawled out, in the back of their wagons, like leisurely gentlemen or like the hills.1984, Péter Esterházy, “The Transporters”, in Ferenc Takács, transl., The Hungarian P.E.N., pages 41–42. From the entry furcoat

Meaning of sprawl

verb To sit with the limbs spread out.
verb To spread out in a disorderly fashion; to straggle.
verb To scoot the legs backwards, so as to land on the upper back of an opponent attempting a takedown.

Full definition of sprawl

Questions about sprawl in a sentence

How do you use sprawl in a sentence?: Sprawl is used as a verb and noun. For example: “But most of all I like to sit in the dark with all these hearty souls sprawled around me on the floor and hear them talk.”
What is a short sentence with sprawl?: “Dwarf morning-glories are bushy and sprawl instead of climbing.”
What does sprawl mean?: Sprawl means to sit with the limbs spread out.

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