Meaning

4 senses
  1. (ambitransitive)To write or draw carelessly and in a hurry.

    I suddenly remembered I needed to buy bleach, so scribbled it down on my shopping list.

    schmieren, krakeln, kritzeln

    цара́патьcarápatʹ, шкря́батьškrjábatʹ

    write carelessly

  2. To doodle.

    мара́ть бума́гуmarátʹ bumágu

  3. To write badly; to work as an inferior author or journalist.

  4. (obsolete, transitive)To card or tease (wool) coarsely; to run through a scribbler.

Examples

36 sentences
  1. Tom scribbled something in his notebook.

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  2. Tom scribbled something on his notepad.

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  3. Tom scribbled his signature on the contract.

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  4. I saw Tom scribbling on the wall.

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  5. Tom scribbled something on a piece of paper.

    ruТом нацарапал что-то на клочке бумаги.

    deTom kritzelte etwas auf einen Zettel.

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Translations

8 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
to write or draw carelessly and in a hurry:
to doodle:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
to write or draw carelessly and in a hurry:

Origin

From Middle English scriblen, from (1) scrīben + -le and/or (2) Latin scrībillō (found in

From Middle English scriblen, from (1) scrīben + -le and/or (2) Latin scrībillō (found in conscrībillō), from cōnscrībō, from scrībō (“write”), equivalent to scribe + -le (frequentative suffix).

From Dutch schribbelen (“to scratch”), from Middle Dutch schrobben (“to scrub, scrape, scratch”), variant of schrapen, schrappen. Related to scrub.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

scribbles, scribbling, scribbled, scribbled
Base formscribble · to scribble
3rd person singularscribbles
Present participlescribbling
Past simplescribbled
Past participlescribbled

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyscribble
he, she, itscribbles

Past simpleLesson

all personsscribbled

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave scribbled
he, she, ithas scribbled

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill scribble

Phrasal verbs

2 phrasal verbs

Synonyms

2 synonyms
all senses:scrawl
Close in meaning
  • write down quickly without much attention to detail:scrabble
  • write carelessly:scrawl

Word family

7 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
scribble — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto