fiddle with

verb

fiddled with; fiddling with; fiddles with

1

: to move or handle (something) with the hands or fingers in a nervous way

She was nervously fiddling with her pencil as she waited for the test to start.

2

: to change or handle (something, such as the controls of a machine) in a way that shows one is not sure what to do

He was fiddling with the controls of the television, trying to get it to work.

3

: to change (something) in a harmful or foolish way

It became clear that someone had fiddled with the equipment.

Examples of fiddle with in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The transformation switched the two fluids, reversed their clocks, and fiddled with the temperature in a particular way. — Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 17 Aug. 2026

Back to the opening sequence, anyway, in which Lê tunes his film’s rhythms while Ninh fiddles with his own sound equipment. — Josh Slater-Williams, IndieWire, 10 Aug. 2026

Don’t fiddle with your bag in front of taxis, on public transport, or anywhere outside of the airport or station. — Jillian Dara, Travel + Leisure, 2 Aug. 2026

At 226 pages, the book reads like a high school student fiddling with the margin sizes to meet their page count. — Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 2 June 2026