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crawl

/kɹoːl/noun, verb1 syllable

Crawl means: show submission or fear.

Synonyms for crawl9

noun, as in a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body

noun, as in a swimming stroke; arms are moved alternately overhead accompanied by a flutter kick

front crawl, Australian crawl

verb, as in show submission or fear

fawn, creep, cringe, cower, grovel

verb, as in move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground

What does crawl mean?8

verb

1

show submission or fear

2

move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground“The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed”

3

feel as if crawling with insects“My skin crawled — I was terrified”

4

be full of“The old cheese was crawling with maggots”

5

swim by doing the crawl“European children learn the breast stroke; they often don't know how to crawl”

noun

1

a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body“a crawl was all that the injured man could manage”

2

a swimming stroke; arms are moved alternately overhead accompanied by a flutter kick

3

a very slow movement“the traffic advanced at a crawl”

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

What rhymes with crawl?24

Show 40 near rhymes

Crawl in a sentence

  • The flies on the wall continued to crawl.Mithridates
  • He started to crawl over to the entrance of the cave.Ussis
  • He used all his strength to crawl out of the wrecked car.CK
  • Yanni has to crawl to the other side.Amastan
  • Babies learn to crawl before they learn to walk.CK
  • The window was too small to crawl through it.Amastan
  • It wanted to crawl behind her and devour her in the darkness.Mithridates
  • Crawl forward is done much more agilely - scuttle like a cockroach!fcbond

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of crawl

as a noun

plural
crawls

as a verb

past tense
crawled
present participle
crawling
third-person singular
crawls