dangle

1 of 2

verb

dan·​gle ˈdaŋ-gəl 

dangled; dangling ˈdaŋ-g(ə-)liŋ 

intransitive verb

1

: to hang loosely and usually so as to be able to swing freely

2

: to be a hanger-on or a dependent

3

: to occur in a sentence without having a normally expected syntactic relation to the rest of the sentence (such as climbing in "Climbing the mountain the cabin came into view")

a dangling participle

a dangling modifier

transitive verb

1

: to cause to dangle : swing

dangled her feet in the water

2

a

: to keep hanging uncertainly

b

: to hold out as an inducement

dangler

ˈdaŋ-g(ə-)lər 

noun

dangle

2 of 2

noun

1

: the action of dangling

2

: something that dangles

Synonyms of dangle

Verb

• hang
• swing

Examples of dangle in a Sentence

Verb

Let your arms dangle at your sides.

She sat on the edge of the pool, dangling her feet in the water.

He dangled a piece of string in front of the cat.

The money she dangled in front of him wasn't enough to convince him to sell.

They refused to accept the money that was dangled before their eyes.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Additionally, Chrome, primarily built on C++, often faces dangling memory pointers due to its complex, multi-process design and dynamic memory sharing, increasing the potential for such vulnerabilities. — Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026

If Mitchell’s resolution to his script’s dangling questions feels somewhat rote, a graceful epilogue leaps several decades forward to end matters on an interesting, unexpected note. — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 31 July 2026

Noun

The riders are then seen still sitting in their seats as the carriage dangles, before coming to a complete stop. — Natalia Senanayake, PEOPLE, 27 July 2026

The actress went bare-faced in a selfie with Garten, 78, who paired a denim button-down with pearl dangle earrings. — Hannah Malach, InStyle, 20 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

Verb

probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Danish dangle to dangle

First Known Use

Verb

1565, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun

1756, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for dangle

• angle
• bangle
• jangle
• mangle
• strangle
• tangle
• wrangle
• disentangle
• entangle
• quadrangle
• triangle
• untangle

Kids Definition

dangle

verb

dan·​gle

ˈdaŋ-gəl

dangled; dangling

-g(ə-)liŋ

1

: to hang loosely especially with a swinging motion

2

: to be left without proper grammatical connection in a sentence

a dangling participle

3

: to cause to dangle : swing

dangler

-g(ə-)lər

noun