crawl
- noun
- /krɔl/
- The deep snow has slowed the city to a crawl but has filled everyone with good spirits.
- slow to a crawl
It's not aging as fast you're you're slowing it to a crawl and has a massive cascading effect.
- It's not aging as fast you're you're slowing it to a crawl and has a massive cascading effect.
- And so the movie like, you know, went to a crawl.
- The dictatorship he may believe he has earned has gone in this week from crawling to taking its first few tentative steps.
Examples
-
We say that time flies when we're having fun and slows to a crawl when we're not.
Academic text (2004) -
The heavy rain reduced our progress to a crawl as we navigated through flooded streets.
-
Her fingers slow down to a crawl and come to a stop.
Fiction book (2001) -
U.S. markets are starting a slow crawl back up to pre-depression levels.
-
I got an idea that'll slow them down to a crawl.
-
The Mazda has slowed to a crawl, but the border-crossers have vanished.
Academic text (2011) -
During rush hour, traffic on the highway slows to a crawl, leaving many drivers frustrated.
-
In the winter, icy roads can cause vehicles to come to a complete crawl in dangerous conditions.
Synonyms
A time when activity or progress becomes slower than usual
A very slow speed of progress or movement
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
Cause a strong feeling of fear or disgust with a creepy physical feeling
Compounds
- Specialized
A low narrow space under the main floor of a building that people use to reach pipes and wires
A swimming stroke done face down where arms move alternately over the water and legs kick
- Specialized
A swimming stroke where the arms move one after the other above the water and the legs kick fast
How Fast
Surface Forms
Etymology
Crawl used for very slow movement comes from the idea of 'to creep', so when traffic or work is 'at a crawl' it moves as slowly as someone crawling on the ground.