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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

scramble.

To move hurriedly to a location, especially by using all limbs against a surface.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈskɹæmbl̩/
  1. To move hurriedly to a location, especially by using all limbs against a surface.

    intransitive
  2. To proceed to a location or an objective in a disorderly manner.

    intransitive
  3. To thoroughly combine and cook as a loose mass.

    transitive
    I scrambled some eggs with spinach and cheese.
  4. To process telecommunication signals to make them unintelligible to an unauthorized listener.

    transitive
  5. To mix up, to confuse, to mislead.

    broadly · transitive
  6. To quickly deploy (vehicles, usually aircraft) to a destination in response to an alert, usually to intercept an attacking enemy.

    also · broadly · transitive
  7. To be quickly deployed in this manner.

    intransitive
  8. To partake in motocross.

    intransitive
  9. To ascend rocky terrain as a leisure activity.

    intransitive
  10. To gather or collect by scrambling.

    transitive
  11. To struggle eagerly with others for something thrown upon the ground; to go down upon all fours to seize something; to catch rudely at what is desired.

    transitive
  12. To throw something down for others to compete for in this manner.

    transitive
  13. To permute parts of a twisty puzzle (especially, Rubik's Cube) until it is ready to be solved from scratch.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Origin uncertain. Perhaps from earlier dialectal scramble, scrammel (“to collect or rake together with the hands”), from scramb (“to pull or scrape together with the hands”) + -le (frequentative suffix) (compare Dutch schrammen (“to graze, brush, scratch”)); or alternatively from a nasalised form of scrabble (“to scrape or scratch quickly”).

noun/ˈskɹæmbl̩/
  1. A rush or hurry, especially making use of the limbs against a surface.

    a last-minute scramble to the finish line
  2. An emergency defensive air force mission to intercept attacking enemy aircraft.

  3. A motocross race.

  4. Any frantic period of competitive activity.

  5. An impromptu maneuver or run by a quarterback, attempting to gain yardage or avoid being tackled behind the line of scrimmage.

  6. A statistic used in assessing a player's short game, consisting of a chip or putt from under 50 yards away that results in requiring one putt or less on the green.

  7. A variant of golf in which each player in a team tees off on each hole, and the players decide which shot was best. Every player then plays their second shot from within a club length of where the best ball has come to rest, and the procedure is repeated until the hole is finished.

  8. A dish (meal) involving scrambled eggs and a hodgepodge of complementary ingredients, usually closer to a casserole than to an omelette.

    The diner's menu features "the farmer's scramble" (under all-day breakfast) and "the fisherman's fricassee" (under dinner entrees).
  9. A venue where enslaved people were auctioned during the Atlantic slave trade.

Where this word comes from

Origin uncertain. Perhaps from earlier dialectal scramble, scrammel (“to collect or rake together with the hands”), from scramb (“to pull or scrape together with the hands”) + -le (frequentative suffix) (compare Dutch schrammen (“to graze, brush, scratch”)); or alternatively from a nasalised form of scrabble (“to scrape or scratch quickly”).

intj/ˈskɹæmbl̩/
  1. Shouted when something desirable is thrown into a group of people who individually want that item, causing them to rush for it.

    UK
Where this word comes from

Origin uncertain. Perhaps from earlier dialectal scramble, scrammel (“to collect or rake together with the hands”), from scramb (“to pull or scrape together with the hands”) + -le (frequentative suffix) (compare Dutch schrammen (“to graze, brush, scratch”)); or alternatively from a nasalised form of scrabble (“to scrape or scratch quickly”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.