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prowl

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy way.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

prowl
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɹaʊl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. ambitransitive

    To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty.

  2. ambitransitive

    Move about in or as if in a predatory manner

    “The suspicious stranger prowls the streets of the town.”

  3. intransitive

    To idle; to go about aimlessly.

noun

  1. colloquial

    The act of prowling (walking about in a stealthy manner)

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (ambitransitive) To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty.

Used this way, prowl is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • skulk , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use prowl

  • “The suspicious stranger prowls the streets of the town.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

prowl carprowl throughprowl roundprowl alongnightly prowl

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • prowlernounInflected form

    Someone who prowls or sneaks about.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • prowl carnounCompound term

    A car in which policemen cruise the streets.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

verb

Sense: to rove over or through

skulkRare

noun

Sense: prowling (walking about in a stealthy manner)

skulkRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.