crawl

To move on your hands and knees, or move with your body close to the ground.

• The baby is crawling.
• A spider crawled across the floor.
• We crawled through the narrow tunnel.

How to use it: crawl under/through something (The child crawled under the table.); crawl on your hands and knees (We crawled on our hands and knees through the tunnel.)

Similar words: creep

Common phrases: crawl on something, crawl under something, crawl through something

To move or seem to pass very slowly.

• The traffic crawled along.
• Time crawled during the long wait.
• Our train crawled past the repair workers.

How to use it: crawl along something (The cars crawled along the busy road.)

Similar words: creep, inch

Opposites: race

Common phrases: crawl along, crawl past something, crawl forward

If your skin does this, it feels as though insects are moving over it, often from fear or disgust.

• The story made my skin crawl.
• My skin crawled when I saw the insects.
• Even thinking about that room makes her skin crawl.

How to use it: make someone’s skin crawl (The sound of his laugh made my skin crawl.)

Common phrases: make skin crawl, skin begins to crawl

If a place is doing this, it is full of moving people, animals, or insects.

• The floor was crawling with ants.
• The beach is crawling with tourists.
• By noon, the street was crawling with reporters.

How to use it: be crawling with someone/something (The kitchen was crawling with ants.)

Similar words: swarm, teem

Common phrases: crawl with something, crawl with insects, crawl with people

To behave without pride, trying too hard to please someone or get their help.

• Stop crawling to the boss.
• He came crawling back after losing his job.
• She refused to crawl before people with more power.

How to use it: crawl to someone (He crawled to his boss to ask for another chance.); come crawling back to someone (She expected him to come crawling back to her.)

Similar words: grovel, toady

Common phrases: crawl to someone, crawl back, crawl before someone

To grow slowly across a surface by sending out stems or branches.

• Ivy crawled up the wall.
• The vines crawl over the garden fence.
• Long stems had crawled along the edge of the roof.

How to use it: crawl over/up/along something (Ivy crawled up the old stone wall.)

Similar words: creep, trail

Common phrases: crawl over something, crawl up something, crawl along something

A very slow speed of movement or progress.

• Traffic moved at a crawl.
• Work slowed to a crawl after lunch.
• The queue advanced at a crawl in the heat.

How to use it: at a crawl (Traffic moved at a crawl.); slow to a crawl (The computer slowed to a crawl.)

Similar words: snail’s pace

Common phrases: at a crawl, slow to a crawl, reduce to a crawl, bring to a crawl

An act of moving on hands and knees or with the body close to the ground.

• The tunnel required a short crawl.
• His crawl through the mud left his clothes filthy.
• We practised a belly crawl under the ropes.

How to use it: a crawl through something (It was a difficult crawl through the low tunnel.)

Common phrases: crawl through something, crawl on something, belly crawl