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
Relevance
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
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.
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
-
Children fidgeted in the relentless August heat.—
Jacqui Gifford,
Travel + Leisure,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Bondi forgave a crime that had put people’s lives at risk and cheated the government of vaccine doses that could have been given to others.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
8 Jan. 2026
-
The tension resurfaced when her sister discovered her partner had cheated again and asked to stay at the poster’s home with both children.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
31 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
The judges appeared more skeptical of Peters’ claim that her convictions should be tossed entirely, and noted that her conduct matched the crimes for which she was found guilty.—
Shelly Bradbury,
Denver Post,
14 Jan. 2026
-
However, don’t rule out an offensive player being tossed around in discussion.—
Nick Harris,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
14 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
While Marty Supreme is only loosely inspired by Reisman, there are several sequences and character details plucked from his life.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Arsene Wenger was plucked from ‘Japan’, as Sir Alex Ferguson memorably enunciated it, in 1996.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
8 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Their usefulness remains an open question At the back of a conference hall at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas, a humanoid robot twitched through a preprogrammed wave for a crowd of cell phone cameras—a classic scene of high spectacle and unclear utility at CES.—
Eric Sullivan,
Scientific American,
6 Jan. 2026
-
As the drugs flowed, Randolph's eyes were closed and his face twitched slightly.—
DAVID FISCHER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Arkansas Online,
21 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
At one point, the fear that squeezed my stomach tighter and tighter gave way to stupefaction.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
12 Jan. 2026
-
Even if those increases eventually unwind, the impact will fall on households that have already been squeezed for decades, and many households are no longer assuming prices will fall back—they’ve been burned too often.—
Gene Ludwig,
Fortune,
11 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
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
-
Mountain View Fire Rescue hustled to get to a fire caused by a power pole that blew down.—
Michael Abeyta,
CBS News,
20 Dec. 2025
-
My mother—an incredible single mom of four kids—just hustled.—
Sam Reed,
Glamour,
5 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fiddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiddled. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
