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
But what does some scientist know about eating fruit, of all things, when your hamstring feels like it’s being fiddled by Satan?
—
Dan England, Outside, 5 Feb. 2026
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
Dan England, Outside, 5 Feb. 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fiddled
Verb
-
One woman ordered some home furniture while two children fidgeted nearby.—
David Lyons,
Sun Sentinel,
23 Mar. 2026
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Between each dance was an excruciating silence during which network-TV producers monitored and reset their equipment while the men fidgeted onstage like excitable children.—
Rebecca Jennings,
Vulture,
20 Mar. 2026
Verb
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However, instead of wrapping up storylines neatly, the series' final episode created more questions, and left many feeling cheated of a firm resolution.—
Julie Tremaine,
PEOPLE,
23 May 2026
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There’s a rule and Saints cheated in the play-offs, a separate competition.—
Jordan Campbell,
New York Times,
21 May 2026
Verb
-
Channeling his inner Jameson, a spirited Simmons then motioned for Spider-Man to get tossed from the game.—
Tracy Brown,
Los Angeles Times,
27 May 2026
-
Schlittler tossed a quality start in six innings.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
27 May 2026
Verb
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Many of the items for the set were quite literally plucked from her residence ahead of her Saturday Night Live performance at the end of last year.—
Angela Tafoya,
Architectural Digest,
29 May 2026
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Etna, a battle-scarred but kindhearted shepherd mix who was plucked from his home on the eve of an unspecified conflict in an unnamed country, has grown weary of war’s brutalities and longs to return to the coastal farm of his puppyhood.—
Emily Temple,
Literary Hub,
26 May 2026
Verb
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Many a club’s board would have twitched in the face of the bare data, but the chain of command above Arteta stayed the course, and the FOMO is so high that tickets for Palace away this weekend are going for £45,000 ($60,000) on resale sites.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
21 May 2026
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My jaw twitched uncontrollably.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 May 2026
Verb
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Freddie Freeman squeezed one inside the left-field foul pole in the first inning, his fourth home run in nine games (after hitting just one in the previous 35 games).—
Bill Plunkett,
Oc Register,
30 May 2026
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The story of America’s lopsided home prices has often been pinned on the wealthy remote workers who squeezed home supply in the pandemic’s early days.—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
29 May 2026
Verb
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Belloumi’s 64th-minute strike with his left foot broke the deadlock in the second game of the two-leg affair and Gelhardt made sure with a low shot that squirmed past the Millwall goalkeeper.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
11 May 2026
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His Japanese guest, usually a paragon of diplomatic cool, visibly squirmed.—
Andreas Kluth,
Twin Cities,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In a sense, bees went from wild foragers to shift workers, clocking in for bloom season as beekeepers hustled them from farm to farm.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 May 2026
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Napoleon Solo hustled to first place at the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, coming out on top against 13 other horses in what is the race's biggest field in 15 years.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
16 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fiddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiddled. Accessed 3 Jun. 2026.
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