straggle
Syllables: strag·gle/ˈstɹæɡl̩/
straggle verb: to stray, rove, or wander from a normal course and others of its kind.
Verb
straggle (third-person singular simple present straggles, present participle straggling, simple past and past participle straggled)
- To stray, rove, or wander from a normal course and others of its kind.
- He straggled away from the crowd and went off on his own.
- What, feareful coward, ſtragling from the camp,
When Kings themſelues are preſent in the field?c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- To act in a disorderly and irregular way.
- Grow or hang messily.
- The roses had been allowed to straggle across the path.
- A few gray wisps straggled from underneath his cap.
- To move along slowly so as to remain some distance behind the person or people in front.
- In the reverse direction, creature comforts were not closely studied, and the vessel left Antwerp at 1 p.m., to arrive in Harwich at the awkward hour of 2 a.m. The boat train was waiting for the weary stream of passengers, who straggled up George Street, encumbered with luggage, or following...1951 November, K. Westcott Jones, “Parkeston Quay and the Antwerp Continental Service”, in Railway Magazine, page 760
Noun
straggle (plural straggles)
- An irregular, spread-out group.
- Twenty-five hundred hands snapped at a slant to the hats. The admiral strolled onto the field, smoking, followed by a straggle of officers, walking carelessly to symbolize the privileges of rank, but straggling at distances from the admiral strictly regulated by the number of sleeve stripes on each...1951, Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny, Doubleday & Company, Inc., page 38
- At Milton the road is blocked by yet another Anzac parade, a straggle of people raw-faced in the cold.2005, Joe Bennett, A Land of Two Halves, page 43
- An outlier; something that has strayed beyond the normal limits.
- Nevertheless there is a straggle of pungent sense in it, — like the outskirts of lightning, seen in that dismally wet weather, which the Royal Party had.1858, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia
straggle meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
straggle in Tamil
- பிரிந்து செல்
straggle in Urdu
- راہ سے ہٹنا, ساتھ چھڑنا
straggle in Bengali
- পিছিয়ে পড়া, দলছুট হওয়া
straggle in Malayalam
- വഴിതെറ്റുക, അണിതെറ്റുക
More languagesFewer languages
- straggle in Kannada
- ದಾರಿತಪ್ಪು, ಗುಂಪು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಹೋಗು, ಚದರು, ಹಾರಾಡು
Examples of straggle in a sentence
- Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out.1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for...
- Some there are alſo in the Province of Junnan ; nor is it a wonder that theſe Creatures, who ſo ſwarm in the Indies, and in Tungkin or Tonquin, ſhould ſtraggle hither.1733, Eusebius Renaudot, transl., Ancient Accounts of India and China, London, →OCLC, page 61:
- Then there was no more cover, for they straggled out, not in ranks but clusters, from among orange trees and tall, flowering shrubs[…].1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
- The boat train was waiting for the weary stream of passengers, who straggled up George Street, encumbered with luggage, or following burdened porters in the darkness.1951 November, K. Westcott Jones, “Parkeston Quay and the Antwerp Continental Service”, in Railway Magazine, page 760:
Forms of straggle
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | straggles |
| present participle | straggling |
| past participle | straggled |
| past | straggled |
| Noun | |
| plural | straggles |
Origin of straggle
From Middle English straglen, of uncertain origin, possibly from (or cognate to) dialectal Norwegian stragla (“to walk laboriously”).
Words formed from straggle
Words that rhyme with straggle
Questions about straggle
- What does straggle mean?
- Straggle means to stray, rove, or wander from a normal course and others of its kind.
- What is straggle in Tamil?
- Straggle in Tamil is பிரிந்து செல். See Straggle meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use straggle in a sentence?
- Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out.
- What part of speech is straggle?
- Straggle can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce straggle?
- Straggle is pronounced /ˈstɹæɡl̩/.
- What is the past tense of straggle?
- The past tense of straggle is straggled.
Words near straggle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: straggle (page history and authors); straggle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); straggle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); straggle (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); straggle (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); straggle (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-straggle.wav.
Cite this entry: “straggle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/straggle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.