Definition

1. 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.

2. 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

1. an aimless drawing
2. poor handwriting

Verb

1. write carelessly
2. write down quickly without much attention to detail