Word Explorer

Crawl

/kɹɔl/

The act of moving slowly on hands and knees etc, or with frequent stops.

Full Dictionary Entry

📖 Definitions of "Crawl"

noun

1
The act of moving slowly on hands and knees etc, or with frequent stops.
2
A rapid swimming stroke with alternate overarm strokes and a fluttering kick.
3
A very slow pace.
"My computer has slowed down to a crawl since I installed that software package."
4
A piece of horizontally or vertically scrolling text overlaid on the main image.

verb

1
To creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or by dragging the body along the ground.
"Clutching my wounded side, I crawled back to the trench."
2
To move forward slowly, with frequent stops.
"The rush-hour traffic crawled around the bypass."
3
To act in a servile manner.
"Don't come crawling to me with your useless apologies!"
4
(with "with") See crawl with.

🔄 Synonyms of "Crawl"

9 synonyms found via WordNet and Google Books.

Word	Definition
creepnoun	(intransitive) To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
fawnnoun	A young deer.
cringeverb	(intransitive, figuratively) To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.
grovelverb	(intransitive) To abase oneself before another person.
cowerverb	(intransitive) To crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.
creepingnoun	The act of something that creeps.
crawlingnoun	The motion of something that crawls.
front crawlnoun	A style of swimming where the swimmer is face-down in the water and moves the arms in alternating overhead strokes.
australian crawlnoun	The front crawl swimming stroke.

💡 Words with a Similar Meaning to "Crawl"

Found via reverse dictionary — words that share a conceptual meaning.

Word	Definition
creepnoun	(intransitive) To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
creepingnoun	The act of something that creeps.
grovelverb	(intransitive) To abase oneself before another person.
cowerverb	(intransitive) To crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.
cringeverb	(intransitive, figuratively) To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.
australian crawlnoun	The front crawl swimming stroke.
front crawlnoun	A style of swimming where the swimmer is face-down in the water and moves the arms in alternating overhead strokes.
fawnnoun	A young deer.
slitherverb	(intransitive) To move about smoothly and from side to side.
slidenoun	(ergative) To (cause to) move in continuous contact with a surface.
hideverb	(transitive) To put (something) in a place where it will be out of sight or harder to discover.
walkverb	(intransitive) To move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of animals with four or more feet) forward, with at least one foot on the ground at all times. Compare run.
infiltratenoun	(ambitransitive) To surreptitiously penetrate, enter or gain access to.
climbverb	(intransitive) To ascend; rise; to go up.
tracknoun	A mark left by something that has passed along.
tracenoun	An act of tracing.
exploitverb	(transitive) To use (something) to someone's advantage, such as one's own benefit or a society's benefit.
sniffernoun	(networking) A software or hardware tool for intercepting and logging network traffic.
backtrackingnoun	(computer science) The act of building all possible solutions to a problem incrementally, abandoning any candidate solution if it cannot lead to a valid solution.
advancenoun	To help the progress of (something); to further.