Meanings
nounurban sprawl (countable and uncountable, plural urban sprawls)
plural urban sprawls
- countableuncountableurban studiesAn unplanned, disorganized growth of housing etc. on the edge of a city.
Synonyms: suburban sprawl, urban encroachment
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn unplanned, disorganized growth of housing etc. on the edge of a city.
Similar
suburban sprawlurban encroachment
More synonyms by meaning
nounan aggregation or continuous network of urban communities
Similar
Broader
urban areapopulated area
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
First used in 1937.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan creixement en taca d'oli
- creixement en taca d'oligrowth of housing
Czech městská aglomerace, rostoucí předměstí
- městská aglomeracegrowth of housing
- rostoucí předměstígrowth of housing
Estonian hajalinnastumine
- hajalinnastuminegrowth of housing
French étalement urbain
- étalement urbaingrowth of housing
German Zersiedelung, Zersiedlung
- Zersiedelunggrowth of housing
- Zersiedlunggrowth of housing
Portuguese alastramento urbano
- alastramento urbanogrowth of housing
Spanish dispersión urbana
- dispersión urbanagrowth of housing
Swahili upanuzi wa miji, kuenea kwa miji
- upanuzi wa mijigrowth of housing
- kuenea kwa mijigrowth of housing
Cite this entry
APA
urban sprawl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urban%20sprawl
MLA
“urban sprawl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urban%20sprawl. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “urban sprawl,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urban%20sprawl.
Source: urban sprawl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.