sprawling

verb

present participle of sprawl
1
as in extending
to extend outwards from or as if from a central point The suburbs sprawl for miles beyond the city's downtown.

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2
as in sitting
to rest with the arms and legs spread out There's no feeling like sprawling out on your bed after a hard day's work.

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sprawling Turning around a sprawling $21 billion business that includes hardware, creative studios, and thousands of video game titles is a task that would test even the most experienced of CEOs. — Sebastian Herrera, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026 Imagine a perfect replica of a sprawling metropolis, a Tokyo or a São Paulo, engraved at atomic dimensions on a tile the size of a fingernail. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026 The sprawling cast of HBO‘s period drama The Gilded Age gets larger every season. — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 19 Oct. 2026 For three decades, Hollywood has adapted Stine’s sprawling library of over 300 middle grade and young adult horror titles. — Abbey White, HollywoodReporter, 18 Oct. 2026 With two separate houses, a rushing creek running through the grounds, and a sauna and a cedar barrel hot tub beside the water, the sprawling estate gave our group a place to gather (or rather, frolic) between outings. — Jessica Chapel, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Oct. 2026 At the center of the sprawling property is a 10,500-square-foot residence, accessible via a mile-long drive that winds through forest and across a curved stone bridge. — Tori Latham, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2026 Meltwater from the mountain’s glaciers and thawing permafrost flows down through ancient channels, fueling the great rivers and soaking into these sprawling boglands. — Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026 Both Zhang and Miao have links to individuals involved in sprawling criminal enterprises, according to several federal court filings reviewed by CBS News. — Isabel Vincent, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sprawling
  1. extending
  2. sitting
  3. diverging
  4. flopping
  5. expanding
  6. straddling
  7. radiating
  8. squatting
Verb
  • Shares of CoreWeave plunged 10% on Thursday, extending their monthly decline to 36%, while Australia's NextDC tumbled nearly 40% on Wednesday after cutting its earnings forecast.
    — Jenny Lee, CNBC, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The approval of daraxonrasib, a new life-extending drug for pancreatic cancer, is the biggest advance in decades against a notoriously hard-to-treat disease.
    — STAT Staff, STAT, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of extending
Verb
  • The Saints are sitting at 2-4 for the season and have dropped a few close games.
    — OutKick, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Blush, bronzer, and highlighter all feature meltable formulas that seem to become part of the skin rather than sitting atop the surface.
    — Jeanne Ballion, Vogue, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of sitting
Verb
  • On the classic Aerial Adventure ropes course, three difficulty levels with a handful of diverging paths give visitors plenty of reasons to try the obstacles more than once.
    — Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 22 Oct. 2026
  • On Cloudmonster and Roger Clubhouse offer diverging monochrome treatments.
    — Ian Servantes, Footwear News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of diverging
Verb
  • Because the flopping infraction carries no suspension, George remains fully cleared to suit up Friday when Boston hosts his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers.
    — Alejandro Avila OutKick, FOXNews.com, 22 Oct. 2026
  • The tall foliage of bearded iris (Iris germanica) begins flopping early in the growing season.
    — Marie Iannotti, The Spruce, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of flopping
Verb
  • The four countries agreed Monday to continue talks on expanding cooperation among them, particularly about regional peace and security, a statement said.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Some brands are expanding their use of advance material and capacity commitments, while delaying final decisions on color, SKU quantities or market allocation.
    — Jessica Binns, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of expanding
Verb
  • Ultimately, six people—Skarsgård, Colman, Fischer, Wilson, intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien, and Oscar-winning cinematographer Lol Crawley—all experimented with positions together, straddling each other in odd ways to block the scenes.
    — Kenneal Patterson, Vanity Fair, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Wiener not only leaves behind a richly complex body of work straddling textiles, painting, photographs, and collages, but also a career intricately connected to one of the most important chapters of Austrian art.
    — Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of straddling
Verb
  • And then there’s an energetic quality, at times radiating light and other times shining it—with or without pulsing strobes—on others.
    — Laura Regensdorf, Vogue, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Some kids come into this life and catch all the breaks and start making money and going places and radiating confidence and functionality and the world opens right up to them.
    — George Saunders, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of radiating
Verb
  • The group has had community trapping parties and is even starting an app to locate these squatting rodents.
    — Julia Avant, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Half were male in aura, squatting with their long lenses and beckoning confidence, always ready to pontificate, and the other half were female, a demure box into which a slide could be slipped, bringing the room to life.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of squatting

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Cite this Entry

“Sprawling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sprawling. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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