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🦴 A thin person ✍️ To write messily 🌱 To grow unevenly 🌿 A tangled mass
to scraggle

to scraggle

8.9
To draw or write with uneven, untidy strokes
  • verb
  • /ˈskræɡəl/
  • UK
translation icon : garabatear
  • When nervous, he would scraggle his signature instead of writing it neatly.

Examples

  • The child loved to scraggle pictures all over the margins of her notebook.

  • Rain made the ink run, causing the words to scraggle across the page.

  • Don't scraggle your drawing!

  • She scraggled the edges of the paper.

  • The artist decided to scraggle the background with wild, uneven strokes to give it more character.

  • During class, he would scraggle down ideas in his notebook, leaving a chaotic trail of thoughts.

  • As she tried to quickly write her notes, the pen began to scraggle across the page.

Synonyms

to scrawl
vsto scraggle
23 5.5

To write or draw quickly and carelessly so it is hard to read

focuses on uneven jagged strokes rather than speed or legibility
to stipple
vsto scraggle
  • Specialized
4 7.9

To make a picture or texture with many small dots

uses irregular jagged strokes rather than many small controlled dots
to striate
vsto scraggle
  • Specialized
2 9.5

To make thin parallel lines or shallow grooves on a surface

uses uneven jagged strokes rather than neat thin linear marks
to scrabble
vsto scraggle
1 7.0

To write or draw quickly so it is hard to read

emphasizes jagged, uneven stroke shapes rather than hurriedness

How Messy

to scrawl
23 5.5
to scraggle
  • UK
8.9
to scribble
55 3.5
to doodle
13 3.3
to write
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

scraggle infinitive
scraggled past
scraggled past participle
scraggling present participle
scraggles third person singular

Morphology

scraggle = scrag (semi-transparent) = scrag + le

The verb appears formed by adding the frequentative/putative verb-forming suffix '-le' to 'scrag', but the precise sense 'to draw/mark untidily' is an extension and not fully predictable.

Etymology

Scraggle is like the word scrawl ('messy writing'), so to scraggle is to make untidy, jagged marks on a page when you draw or write quickly.