Word.ws English Dictionary

sprawlmart

sprawlmart noun: suburban sprawl driven by the proliferation of malls and big-box stores, and the resulting weakening of downtowns and Main Streets.

Noun

sprawlmart (uncountable)

  1. (derogatory, urban studies) Suburban sprawl driven by the proliferation of malls and big-box stores, and the resulting weakening of downtowns and Main Streets.
    • Environmentalists in Vermont say the rural character of the state is endangered by "sprawl-mart development."1997, Fred R. David, Cases in Strategic Management
    • Sprawlmart resisters are the true advocates of change - appropriate, beneficial, and enduring.1998, Roberta Brandes Gratz, Norman Mintz, Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 158

Origin of sprawlmart

Blend of sprawl + Walmart. Coined by US nonprofit organization for historic preservation National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Questions about sprawlmart

What does sprawlmart mean?
Sprawlmart means suburban sprawl driven by the proliferation of malls and big-box stores, and the resulting weakening of downtowns and Main Streets.
What part of speech is sprawlmart?
Sprawlmart is a noun.

Words near sprawlmart in the dictionary

  1. sprawling
  2. sprawling bluebell
  3. sprawlingly
  4. sprawlingness
  5. sprawlings
  6. sprawlmart
  7. sprawls
  8. sprawly
  9. spray
  10. spray and pray
  11. spray bar

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sprawlmart (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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