WRIGGLE Synonyms: 55 Similar and Opposite Words

wriggle

verb

ˈri-gəl

Definition of wriggle

as in to squirm

to make jerky or restless movements a toddler wriggling in his seat all throughout the church service

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to crawl

to move slowly with the body close to the ground a worm slowly wriggled across the sidewalk

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in to worm

to introduce in a gradual, secret, or clever way within a month of his arrival, this social upstart had wriggled himself into the family's good graces

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of wriggle The overwhelming success of Season 1 gave the executive producers wriggle room for Season 2. — Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 11 Aug. 2026 The toddler has already slid halfway down her mother’s lap, her small torso thrown back, using her foot as leverage to wriggle free. — Carmen Rosenberg-Miller, Artforum, 6 Aug. 2026 Soren Stevenson was filming his brother-in-law surfing at Newport Beach, California, the morning of Saturday, July 25 when the white shark jumped out of the water behind him and appeared to wriggle before diving back in. — Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 29 July 2026 Mikel Oyarzabal attempted to wriggle free of Lisandro Martinez to launch a counter-attack, but Martinez wasn’t having any of that. — Tim Spiers, New York Times, 20 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for wriggle

Recent Examples of Synonyms for wriggle

Verb

Where Raphael’s infant Christ is plump, acquiescent, docile, Cassatt’s children squirm, resist, and ignore authority.

— Carmen Rosenberg-Miller, Artforum, 6 Aug. 2026
Its defenders will have to do better than making Infantino squirm.

— Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2026

Definition of squirm

Verb

Installation doesn’t require crews to manually crawl along hundreds of miles of line.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 2 Sep. 2026
The Leao Tires subbrand has a huge range of truck, bus, and tractor tires for everything from daily driving on pavement to slow crawling through muddy farm fields.

— Michael Febbo, The Drive, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of crawl

Verb

The idea wormed its way through the State Fair machinery, and with a month and a half to go until gates opened, EatFuti heard they’d be allowed to test a pilot program.

— Courtney Crowder, Des Moines Register, 14 Aug. 2026
Gemini has wormed its way into virtually every Google product and service, powering email organization in Gmail, document summary in Drive, and much more.

— ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 11 Aug. 2026

Definition of worm

Verb

The 5-11, 210-pounder is a sudden cutter who runs with power and twitch, attacking space like a great punt returner.

— Nick Baumgardner, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2026
The muscles in Lola Petticrew’s face twitch ever so slightly, indicating Catherine’s excitement that the police are now in possession of this picture.

— Erin Qualey, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of twitch

Verb

The location opened Monday, welcoming a consistent rush of customers into the space, even as the afternoon waned and crept into the neither-lunch-nor-dinner hours.

— Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 2 Sep. 2026
Up to half of the more than 200,000 mountain glaciers — vast, slow moving rivers of ice that creep across the world’s peaks — are expected to disappear by the end of this century, even if ambitious climate goals are met.

— Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of creep

Verb

Royals Manager Matt Quatraro gets tossed after umpires reverse a run scoring balk taking away a run from the Royals.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 2 Sep. 2026
But on a recent day, Aly was salvaging bricks from his razed home, tossing the good ones in a pile to sell to construction companies.

— Diaa Hadid, NPR, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of toss

Verb

But the real action was in line for the Breen meet and greet, which snaked across the lobby of the Regal’s mezzanine level after the second screening.

— Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026
The Premier League trophy was kept out of the way, not shown off, apart from the blazing cover picture in the souvenir programme which ensured queues snaking through the crowd to purchase this special memento.

— Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2026

Definition of snake

Browse Nearby Words

wretches

wriggle

wriggled

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Wriggle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wriggle. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of wriggle

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

apiary

Popular in Grammar & Usage

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4

Popular

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Games & Quizzes