sprawl

sprawl — verb

1. of a person: to relax in a sitting or lying position with limbs stretched loosel

1.verbintransitiveB1
Definition

of a person: to relax in a sitting or lying position with limbs stretched loosely away from the body

Example

After a long hike, Sahil sprawled on the grass beside the trail.

intransitive + location phrase: sprawl on [surface]

The cat sprawled across the sofa, taking up the whole seat.

Common collocations
  • sprawl on the sofa/floor/grass/bed
  • sprawl across the bed/chair
  • sprawl in an armchair/a chair
Synonyms
  • loll

    less common; implies a more relaxed, drooping posture

  • spread out

    less specific; can describe any kind of spreading without the lazy/careless feeling

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

sprawl + preposition/location (on/in/across)

Usage Note

Often used with a phrase that describes where the person is sitting or lying (on the sofa, across the bed, in the armchair).

Common Mistakes

She stretched on the sofa after work.
She sprawled on the sofa after work.
'Stretch' is a deliberate action to extend muscles; 'sprawl' suggests a lazy or careless position without effort.

2. if a city, town, or built-up area sprawls, it spreads outward across land in a w

2.verbintransitiveB2
Definition

if a city, town, or built-up area sprawls, it spreads outward across land in a way that looks messy or unplanned, often covering a very large area

Example

The city has sprawled outward for miles, covering the farmland.

intransitive + direction adverb: sprawl outward

New suburbs sprawl across the valley without any clear plan.

Common collocations
  • sprawl across the valley/plain/landscape
  • sprawl over the countryside
  • sprawl along the coast/river/highway
  • sprawl outward/toward
Synonyms
  • spread

    neutral; does not carry the negative idea of messy or uncontrolled growth

  • expand

    more formal; often used for deliberate, planned growth

Antonyms
  • shrink

    to become smaller in area

Grammar Patterns

sprawl + adverb/preposition (across/over/along/outward)

Usage Note

This sense carries a mildly negative tone, suggesting uncontrolled or messy growth. The related noun form urban sprawl is very common in discussions about town planning.

Common Mistakes

The city spread across the valley.' (neutral statement)
The city sprawled across the valley.
'Sprawl' implies the growth is messy or unplanned, while 'spread' is neutral and simply describes expansion.

sprawl — noun

Word family

  • sprawling
    adjectiveB2
  • sprawled
    adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/2

Sprawl, spread, expand, extend, and grow all describe becoming larger or covering more ground, but they carry different tones. Spread is the most neutral word — you can use it for anything from a stain on a cloth to a city's outward growth. Expand suggests deliberate, planned enlargement, often with a sense of purpose (a company expands its offices). Extend implies a line or boundary moving outward in a particular direction (the railway line extends to the coast). Grow focuses on increase in size over time, without specifying how the increase happens (the population grew quickly). Sprawl is the most specific: it describes irregular, unplanned, messy outward growth, almost always with a negative tone. For example: 'The suburbs spread across the valley' is neutral, but 'the suburbs sprawled across the valley' criticises the lack of planning.

spread ↗expand ↗extend ↗grow ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • urban sprawl
  • suburban sprawl
  • sprawl of buildings

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishProto-GermanicEnglish

The word comes from Old English 'spreawlian', meaning to move the arms and legs in a convulsive or uncontrolled way. It is related to 'sprout' — both words trace back to an ancient root suggesting outward movement. The sense of a city spreading in a messy, unplanned way appeared in the mid-1900s, when people began to notice how quickly towns were using up the countryside.