1
as in fidgeted
to make jerky or restless movements
the executive fiddled with a pen as she impatiently waited for the meeting to begin
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cheated
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
conscienceless grifters who had spent their lives fiddling the naive
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fiddled
As Rossini stowed her purse in a tiny back office, a manager named Katie Atlas was onboarding a new employee, a young woman who fiddled nervously with her necklace.
—
Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025
Communities across the globe probably independently fiddled their way towards the invention of proto lip balms over and over.
—Mark Hay, Popular Science, 13 Aug. 2025
Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025
Communities across the globe probably independently fiddled their way towards the invention of proto lip balms over and over.
—Mark Hay, Popular Science, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fiddled
Verb
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Children fidgeted in the relentless August heat.—
Jacqui Gifford,
Travel + Leisure,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Experts say such scam operations in Cambodia and elsewhere have cheated people around the world out of billions of dollars and tricked people from many countries to work in them under slave-like conditions.—
Sakchai Lalit,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
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Those very few still alive believe to this day that they are being cheated out of Social Security benefits.—
Tom Margenau,
Dallas Morning News,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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YouCopia ShelfBin Packet Organizer Avoid spice packets getting buried in drawers or tossed to the back of cabinets.—
Clint Davis,
PEOPLE,
4 Feb. 2026
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Ramzy Tabello, the owner of the store, said the suspect tossed between $750,000-$1 million worth of jewelry into trash cans.—
Matthew Rodriguez,
CBS News,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Mornings begin at your own pace with homemade granola and shakshuka before heartier lunches and dinners of chicken tagine, lamb kebabs and roasted eggplant with colourful zesty salads mostly plucked from the on-site vegetable garden.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
6 Feb. 2026
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There’s also Liège waffles ($10), plucked from the Good Neighbor dessert menu, and playful milkshakes ($10) and smoothies ($11) that can be made boozy for an additional $6.—
Sean Timberlake,
Sacbee.com,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Baby Briana’s arms twitched and legs flopped against cold concrete.—
Jayme Fraser,
USA Today,
4 Feb. 2026
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The bonito’s body twitched until Yamasaki slid a thin metal wire down the column of its spinal cord, a second step called shinkei jime, which arrests its nervous system.—
Hannah Goldfield,
New Yorker,
19 Jan. 2026
Verb
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As the continents sheared and twisted unevenly, local forces squeezed together thin ribbons of crust and popped them up like geological meerkats, isolating and slicing them off.—
Evan Howell,
Scientific American,
4 Feb. 2026
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Walmart had become the poster child of the big bad corporation that underpaid its workers, squeezed its suppliers and tore at the fabric of small-town America.—
Evan Clark,
Footwear News,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The open section of their session lasted for 15 minutes — and Howe will have squirmed through every second — but there were laughs amid the stretches and shuttle runs.—
George Caulkin,
New York Times,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Toronto hustled to a 14-point advantage before settling for a 32-24 lead after one quarter.—
Oc Register,
Oc Register,
17 Jan. 2026
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Fiala hustled back to block Eichel’s shot, but Eichel recovered it to find Stone on the doorstep for an uncontested winner.—
Andrew Knoll,
Daily News,
15 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fiddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiddled. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
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