diddled

verb

past tense of diddle
1
as in dragged
to move or act slowly even though the hurricane was fast approaching, federal and local politicians wasted precious time diddling

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cheated
to rob by the use of trickery or threats an unscrupulous Broadway producer diddles little old ladies by persuading them to invest in a surefire flop

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for diddled
  1. dragged
  2. cheated
  3. delayed
  4. hustled
  5. lingered
  6. squeezed
  7. poked
  8. plucked
Verb
  • Graham also dragged a shimmery charcoal hue from her outer corner to her inner corner to accent her bottom line.
    — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Grossman said that as the Iran war dragged on, Washington started to divert weapons and munitions from the Asia-Pacific region to sustain the war against Tehran.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of dragged
Verb
  • Scarlett Johansson sued you over that, alleging that Disney cheated her out of box office upside.
    — Todd Spangler, Variety, 28 Sep. 2026
  • OpenAI revealed that the Hugging Face hack wasn't the only time its bots had lied, cheated, and hidden its tracks from humans.
    — David Pogue, CBS News, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of cheated
Verb
  • Trump’s proclamation would have delayed compliance with the tougher standards from 2027 until 2029, though EPA ultimately repealed them in February.
    — Luke Fountain, CNBC, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Flights are delayed, resulting in crew rest violations, maintenance schedule conflicts, cargo rerouting decisions, fuel reallocation and thousands of passenger rebooking scenarios.
    — Abha Dogra, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of delayed
Verb
  • Quickly, the house lights come up, and Lay and family are hustled backstage to get reacquainted.
    — Joan Kron, Allure, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Her mother hustled her to hospital, only for the doctors to realize Accurso’s active imagination had left her in the same predicament as Madeline’s friends.
    — CT Jones, Rolling Stone, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of hustled
Verb
  • But one of them, perhaps too slow, or too confused, lingered a second longer, and the claw opened and snapped shut.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Inside a Brazilian stadium Sunday, the same question lingered as two NFL kickers took turns lining up for potential game-winning field goals.
    — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of lingered
Verb
  • So they're getting pushed really, really, really hard, getting squeezed.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026
  • The combination of tariffs, material prices and currencies have squeezed margins for Swiss watchmakers.
    — Robert Frank, CNBC, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of squeezed
Verb
  • Gray-green eyes poked up from its small, round shell, which was the color of sand, and its legs made a soft, scuttling sound.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Flip and continue to cook until the flesh begins to flake when poked with a fork, 1 to 2 minutes.
    — Kate Williams, AJC.com, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of poked
Verb
  • In fact, all four songs sound like they were plucked from previous albums like Midnights or The Tortured Poets Department.
    — Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Paired with a prominent pink lip and punctuating updo, the glam appeared as if it were plucked from an early 2000s look book.
    — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of plucked
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.

Browse Nearby Words

diddle
diddled
diddled (with)
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Cite this Entry

“Diddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/diddled. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

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