Library / English Dictionary

SCRAMBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Rushing about hastily in an undignified way

Synonyms:

scamper; scramble; scurry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("scramble" is a kind of...):

haste; hurry; rush; rushing (the act of moving hurriedly and in a careless manner)

Derivation:

scramble (to move hurriedly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An unceremonious and disorganized struggle

Synonyms:

scramble; scuffle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("scramble" is a kind of...):

battle; struggle (an energetic attempt to achieve something)

Derivation:

scramble (bring into random order)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make unintelligible

Example:

scramble the message so that nobody can understand it

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "scramble" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

unscramble (make intelligible)

Derivation:

scrambler (electronic equipment that makes speech unintelligible during transmission and restores it at reception)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stir vigorously

Example:

beat the cream

Synonyms:

beat; scramble

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "scramble" is one way to...):

agitate; commove; disturb; raise up; shake up; stir up; vex (change the arrangement or position of)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scramble"):

whip; whisk (whip with or as if with a wire whisk)

cream (make creamy by beating)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bring into random order

Synonyms:

jumble; scramble; throw together

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "scramble" is one way to...):

disarray; disorder (bring disorder to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scramble"):

tumble (throw together in a confused mass)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The chef wants to scramble the eggs

Derivation:

scramble (an unceremonious and disorganized struggle)

scrambler (electronic equipment that makes speech unintelligible during transmission and restores it at reception)

Sense 4

Meaning:

To move hurriedly

Example:

The friend scrambled after them

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "scramble" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

scramble (rushing about hastily in an undignified way)

scrambler (a rapid mover; someone who scrambles)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling

Synonyms:

clamber; scramble; shin; shinny; skin; sputter; struggle

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "scramble" is one way to...):

climb (move with difficulty, by grasping)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

I found myself shaking with nervous excitement as I scrambled forward and lay down beside him, looking out through the bushes at a clearing which stretched before us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Before you scramble to dump out all those artificial sweeteners, researchers note this study doesn’t clearly say whether they are better or worse than sugar.

(Artificial Sweeteners Can Still Lead to Obesity, Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Allen says the document "scrambles the names of the signers" and "they are no longer grouped by state."

(Parchment Copy of Declaration of Independence Found in Small British Town, VOA)

Face photographs in which the features had been scrambled were not matched with green at all.

(Rosy health and sickly green: color associations play robust role in reading faces, National Institutes of Health)

And she immediately scrambled across the fence, and walked away, not attending to Fanny's last question of whether she had seen anything of Miss Crawford and Edmund.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

However, qubits in an optical fiber can travel only short distances before their special quantum properties are lost and the information is scrambled.

(Key Tech for Quantum Communications Offered by Implanting Diamonds with Flaws, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Because cosmic ray particles carry an electrical charge, their paths become scrambled when they encounter magnetic fields on their journey to Earth.

(NASA’s Fermi Mission Links Nearby Pulsar’s Gamma-ray ‘Halo’ to Antimatter Puzzle, NASA)

I daresay it is only a rat scrambling along the rafters of the adjoining schoolroom: it was a barn before I had it repaired and altered, and barns are generally haunted by rats.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

On the instant a score of the famished brutes were scrambling for the bread and bacon.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But for that reason, I should imagine the likeness must be chiefly confined to the females, for boys have very little teaching after an early age, and scramble into any hand they can get.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)