Spreading out over a wide area with no clear shape or plan, so it looks messy or unattractive. It is used most for cities and buildings — a sprawling city that keeps eating the fields around it, a sprawling housing estate, a sprawling old hospital that grew one wing at a time.

Spreading out over a wide area with no clear shape or plan指在很大的範圍裡向外擴散卻沒有清楚的形狀或規劃, so it looks messy or unattractive看起來雜亂或不好看。It is used most for cities and buildings這個字最常用在城市和建築物上 — a sprawling city that keeps eating the fields around it像是a sprawling city（不斷吃掉周圍田地的蔓延城市）, a sprawling housing estatea sprawling housing estate（雜亂擴張的住宅區）, a sprawling old hospital that grew one wing at a timea sprawling old hospital（一次蓋一棟、越蓋越大的老醫院）。

The feeling is usually mildly negative: too big, badly planned, hard to get around. But not always — 'a sprawling country house' can sound grand and comfortable, and English speakers also use it for books and films ('a sprawling novel' — long, with many characters, hard to hold in your head), sometimes as praise for its scale, sometimes as a complaint that it lost control.

The feeling is usually mildly negative這個字給人的感覺通常是輕微負面的: too big, badly planned, hard to get around太大、規劃不良、不容易走動。But not always但也不一定 — 'a sprawling country house' can sound grand and comfortable'a sprawling country house'可能聽起來氣派又舒適, and English speakers also use it for books and films英文使用者也會拿它形容書和電影 ('a sprawling novel' — long, with many characters, hard to hold in your head)（'a sprawling novel'指篇幅很長、人物眾多、難以一次記住）, sometimes as praise for its scale, sometimes as a complaint that it lost control有時候是在稱讚它的規模有時候是在抱怨它失控了。

Read it from the sentence around it. The matching noun is 'urban sprawl', the endless low spread of a city outwards.

Read it from the sentence around it要從前後文來判斷它的意思。The matching noun is 'urban sprawl'對應的名詞是'urban sprawl'（都市蔓延）, the endless low spread of a city outwards指城市不斷向外低矮擴張。