Word · CEFR C1 · Frequency #12278
sprawl
（城市）无序扩张；杂乱延伸
A straggling, haphazard growth, especially of housing on the edge of a city.
- 1.
An ungainly sprawling posture.
笨拙的摊开姿势
- 2.
A straggling, haphazard growth, especially of housing on the edge of a city.
杂乱无章的扩展,尤指城市边缘的住房扩展
- 3.
A defensive technique that is done in response to certain takedown attempts, where one scoots the legs backwards so as to land on the upper back of the opponent.
一种防御技术,回应某些摔跤尝试时将腿向后移以压在对手上背部
四仰八叉的姿势；懒散的躺卧姿势；防摔技术；（摔跤）后撤压防；笨拙的摊开姿势；杂乱无章的扩展,尤指城市边缘的住房扩展；一种防御技术,回应某些摔跤尝试时将腿向后移以压在对手上背部
In use
The sprawl of new housing has spread across the edge of town.
Residents complain about the endless sprawl of shopping centers along the highway.
We walked through the urban sprawl for hours before reaching the park.
Connections
Collocations
- urban sprawl
- 城市无序扩张
- Urban sprawl has swallowed up the farmland around the city.城市无序扩张吞没了城市周边的农田。
- suburban sprawl
- 郊区无序扩展
- Suburban sprawl has made long commutes increasingly common.郊区无序扩展使长途通勤变得越来越普遍。
- unchecked sprawl
- 不受控制的扩张
- Unchecked sprawl often leads to traffic congestion and pollution.不受控制的扩张常常导致交通拥堵和污染。
- in a sprawl
- 四仰八叉地（躺着）
- He fell and lay in a sprawl on the pavement.他摔倒后四仰八叉地躺在人行道上。
Idioms & figurative uses
- urban sprawl
- 城市无序扩张；城市蔓延Many people worry that urban sprawl will destroy the surrounding countryside.许多人担心城市无序扩张会破坏周边的乡村。
Learner notes
Memory Tip
联想：sprawl 像 spread（铺开）+ crawl（爬），城市如虫子乱爬般无序扩张，人也懒散摊开四肢。
Context & Register
语域：mixed 常见场景：urban planning discussions、casual descriptions of posture、wrestling and martial arts “sprawl”作名词时因义项不同，语域有差异：指城市或建筑无序扩展时，多用于书面语和正式场合；指笨拙摊开的姿势时，日常口语中比较常见；摔跤等体育语境中则属于专门术语。
Grammar Note
可数名词，表示伸开手足躺卧的姿势
Pronunciation & Spelling
对于常见读音 /sprɔːl/，brawl、crawl、drawl、scrawl、shawl、trawl 都是押韵词，且都含拼写块 -awl，其中的 w 不发音。本条目给 sprawl 注音为 /sprɒːl/，这是同一元音的变体记法；注意不要按拼写读出 /w/，也不要读成 /spræl/。
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 1，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, OCTANOVE, WIKTIONARY, WORDNET.