Did you know?
You may have noticed a striking resemblance between wangle and wrangle, both of which have a sense meaning “to obtain or finagle.” But the two do not share a common history: wrangle is centuries older than wangle, and despite their overlap in both meaning and appearance, wangle is believed to have evolved separately by way of waggle, meaning “to move from side to side.” (Wrangle, by contrast, comes from the Old High German word ringan, meaning “to struggle.”) It’s possible, though, that wangle saved the “obtain” sense of wrangle from the brink of obsolescence—until recent decades, this usage had all but disappeared, and its revival may very well have been influenced by wangle. We wish we could wangle conclusive evidence to support this theory, but alas!
Examples of wangle in a Sentence
Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
One of Trump’s conditions for supporting Ukraine’s independence and ending the war is to wangle an earth minerals deal out of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
—Bob Kustra, Chicago Tribune, 1 May 2025
After wangling her way into the jury-deliberation room by getting Lonnie the sexist podcaster disqualified, her questions about the weapon, motive, and witnesses’ testimony puncture hole after hole in the DA’s case against Delia.
—Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 12 Dec. 2024
Then, the Yankees wangled and wooed it away from the Spanish and Mexicans.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024
Through that connection, Marlinspike wangled a meeting with WhatsApp’s cofounder Brian Acton.
—Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 31 July 2016
To wangle a slice of the $40 billion Saudi Arabia plans to invest in Africa.
—Matthew T. Page, TIME, 10 May 2024
The production has managed to wangle an imposing location for the Visitor’s antics to unfold: one of those huge London statement homes made almost entirely of glass, like a sort of gigantic Cubist fishbowl.
—Catherine Bray, Variety, 17 Feb. 2024
That very day in 1963, Mr. Epstein had borrowed his stepfather’s car and driven from New York City to the Cornell campus in upstate Ithaca, N.Y., to try to wangle his way back into school after having flunked out seven years earlier.
—Sam Roberts, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Wangle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wangle. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.
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