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Glite Dictionary
🧎 To move slowly 🙏 To act submissive 👥 To be full of 😨 To feel creepy 🐢 A slow movement 🚗 Very slow progress 🏊 To swim freestyle 🏊 A swim stroke
crawl

crawl

23 1.2
A slow movement made by moving on hands and knees or by dragging the body
  • noun
  • /krɔl/
translation icon : gateo
  • American children promptly began to experiment with crawling, which led to standing, "furniture walking," and finally toddling.
  • development of crawling
  • commando crawl
  • onset of crawling

Turns out there was a cockroach crawl, a big cockroach crawling around in my car.

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Examples

  • It's about a 50-foot crawl with some tight spots, and then it opens out.

    The Descent: Part 2 (2009)

  • There were the ten days they spent hiding in an attic crawl space in Warsaw.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • He'll be in a crawl space.

    Sneakers (1992)

  • We are going to use the training crawl to get to two miles.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • In many ways, crawling is what helps turn babies into children.

    Academic text (2011)

  • TIM goes into an open panel through the ceiling and into the crawl space.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • I need you to dig a trench in my crawl space to lay some pipes.

    Gacy (2003)

  • With just her shoulders above the rafters, she's checking a dusty crawl space.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • All of the sighted infants displayed some commando crawl; however, no blind child displayed this ability during our videotaped sessions.

    Academic text (1996)

  • The pipe burst in the basement, flooding the crawl space beneath the house.

Synonyms

creep
vscrawl
12 5.3

A slow movement of the body, often on hands and knees

is focused on the specific bodily action rather than broad movement
crawling
vscrawl
1.0

A way of moving slowly on your hands and knees or by dragging your body along the ground

is the general movement described rather than the act name
creeping
vscrawl
4.6

A slow movement on hands and knees or along the ground

is the basic movement not framed as a distinct type

Antonyms

to run
∞ 1.0

To move a boat fast in the same direction as the wind

to dash
73 1.0

To move very quickly to reach a place

Idioms

to crawl before you walk
1 5.0

To start with simple tasks before trying harder ones

to make someone's skin crawl
  • Informal
7.4

Cause a strong feeling of fear or disgust with a creepy physical feeling

Compounds

crawl space
  • Specialized
15 5.7

A low narrow space under the main floor of a building that people use to reach pipes and wires

pub crawl
  • Informal
4 6.8

A group visiting several pubs or bars and having a drink at each

front crawl
1 3.7

A swimming stroke done face down where arms move alternately over the water and legs kick

Australian crawl
  • Specialized
1 4.6

A swimming stroke where the arms move one after the other above the water and the legs kick fast

turtle-crawl approach
  • Informal
8.2

A very slow way of doing something that wastes time

How Fast

sprint
55 2.1
to run
∞ 1.0
jog
26 1.0
to walk
∞ 1.0
crawl
23 1.2

Surface Forms

crawl singular
crawls plural

Etymology

Crawl as a noun comes from the same old idea of 'to creep', and it names a slow movement you make when you drag your body or move on hands and knees.