scribble
/'skribl/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb:
- To write or draw carelessly and quickly: To produce writing or marks without attention to neatness, legibility, or detail, often in a hurried manner.
- To write something hastily or thoughtlessly: To compose text rapidly without concern for quality or accuracy.
Noun:
- Careless, hasty, or illegible handwriting: Writing that is difficult to read because it is done quickly or untidily.
- A meaningless or aimless drawing: Marks or a drawing made idly and without purpose.
Examples of Usage
Verb:
- The child loves to scribble with crayons on paper.
- I had to scribble the phone number on a napkin before I forgot it.
- He scribbled a few notes in the margin of his book.
Noun:
- I can't read this scribble; what does it say?
- The page was covered in colorful scribbles.
- Her signature was just an illegible scribble.
Advanced Usage
"to scribble away": to write continuously in a careless or hurried fashion.
- She was scribbling away in her notebook throughout the entire lecture.
"to scribble down": to write something quickly to record it.
- Let me scribble down that idea before I forget it.
Variants and Related Words
Scribbler (noun): A person who writes, especially in a careless or hasty way, or a minor or insignificant writer.
- He was dismissed as a mere scribbler of sensational stories.
Scribbling (noun/gerund): The action or result of writing carelessly.
- The scribbling on the wall had to be cleaned.
Synonyms
- Verb: Scrawl, jot (down), dash off, doodle (for drawing).
- Noun: Scrawl, doodle (for drawing), hasty note.
Related Phrasal Verbs
Scribble down: To write something quickly, especially to make a note of it.
- Can you scribble down the address for me?
Scribble out: To write something hastily, often to complete it quickly.
- I'll just scribble out a quick email to confirm.
Related Idioms
A scribble of a pen: Refers to something written quickly and perhaps without due thought, often with significant consequences.
- With a scribble of a pen, the contract was signed.
Scribble and scrape: An old-fashioned phrase suggesting noisy, untidy writing.
- (Archaic) He spent the morning with much scribble and scrape, working on his manuscript.
Noun
- an aimless drawing
- poor handwriting
Verb
- write carelessly
- write down quickly without much attention to detail