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
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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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The reportedly yearlong relationship is notable in that, after their split in 2015, Stocking posted and deleted tweets saying the basketball player cheated, per The New York Post.—
Taijuan Moorman,
USA Today,
27 Apr. 2026
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This is the same team that cheated and got caught how many times, going back to Bill Belichick and golden boy Tom Brady (Deflategate)?—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Eyes must have tossed the Pearl Girls dormitory, too, because Daisy’s pocket radio — the one she’s been hiding inside her bunkmate Thalia’s bed frame — is sitting on the desk.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
6 May 2026
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But when Story stepped to the plate — after Willson Contreras launched a 449-foot home run, admired his work and then tossed his bat toward the on-deck circle, and after Wilyer Abreu followed with a 396-foot blast of his own — Valdez threw, of all things, a four-seam fastball.—
Cody Stavenhagen,
New York Times,
6 May 2026
Verb
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There’s no trace of anything strummed or plucked; clusters of tone simply materialize out of thin air, as capricious as weather.—
Philip Sherburne,
Pitchfork,
6 May 2026
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He’s plucked employees from companies like Uber, Google, and Facebook to professionalize the place.—
Sean Gregory,
Time,
6 May 2026
Verb
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Pebbles twitched, branches waggled, cholla wiggled, weeds erupted then dried up and died.—
Alina Hartounian,
NPR,
20 Apr. 2026
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Kearse twitched briefly after the lethal drugs began entering his system but stopped moving several minutes later.—
Freida Frisaro,
Sun Sentinel,
3 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Meanwhile, American families are getting squeezed by high gas prices, unaffordable housing, soaring grocery bills and out-of-touch politicians who are more focused on woke ideology than on real solutions.—
Lucas Robinson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 May 2026
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Geneva coach Brad Wendell knew that Kastor’s slow start last season squeezed him out of the lineup.—
Paul Johnson,
Chicago Tribune,
8 May 2026
Verb
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His Japanese guest, usually a paragon of diplomatic cool, visibly squirmed.—
Andreas Kluth,
Twin Cities,
14 Apr. 2026
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Substitute Nikolas Nartey completed the scoring in stoppage time with another deflected shot that squirmed in off the far post.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
1 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Caminero led off with a walk, then hustled to third when Aranda followed with a single.—
Marc Topkin,
The Orlando Sentinel,
3 May 2026
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Alec Bohm drove in a run with a slow roller when Harper hustled to beat shortstop Otto Lopez's throw to second.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
3 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fiddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiddled. Accessed 10 May. 2026.
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