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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Passed over to his hapless son (Dacre Montgomery), our (anti-)hero wires a shotgun to his head and takes him hostage, claiming that the organization’s business maneuvers cheated him out of a substantial fortune.—
Radhika Seth,
Vogue,
5 Sep. 2025
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The woman lives alone, AFP added, citing local media outlets, and was ultimately cheated out of approximately 1 million yen, or about $6,700.—
Jillian Frankel,
PEOPLE,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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This concern has been tossed around (and tossed aside) for years.—
U T Readers,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Sep. 2025
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The swells rocked the boat violently, sent wave after wave over the stern, threw us sideways, and nearly tossed all of us into the ocean again and again.—
Martin Suarez,
Rolling Stone,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Yet there’s a relaxed comfort to dinner in the airy concrete-floored loft, starting with the Taiwanese sausage that arrives as an early bite, wedged into homemade brioche like a tiny hot dog and plucked up between two fingers.—
The Bon Appétit Staff,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
12 Sep. 2025
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The Orioles plucked him in the Rule 5 draft after a tragic plane crash claimed their top catching prospect.—
Jon Paul Hoornstra,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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My hand twitched toward the phone, muscle memory stronger than willpower.—
Maggie Downs,
Oc Register,
9 Sep. 2025
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The mechanism for raising and lowering the pen made a weak clunking sound and barely twitched.—
Stephen Cass,
IEEE Spectrum,
27 June 2025
Verb
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At one point, Detroit squeezed 38 points out of six possessions, turning a close game into a major reality check for the Bears.—
Dan Wiederer,
New York Times,
15 Sep. 2025
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Why American farmers are feeling squeezed It's been a tough year for America's farmers.—
Bailey Schulz,
USA Today,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Farnaz Farjam, one of the show’s executive producers, told Deadline that the production hustled to find a way to capture all three elements.—
Peter White,
Deadline,
1 Sep. 2025
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The band hustled to build their social-media accounts, play shows, and produce a new EP.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
27 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The president starts out by making a visit to Liberty Arena to play basketball with some school children, then gets jerked away when the crisis happens.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
2 Sep. 2025
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If Hall jerked too violently, let alone tried to run, the wire would pull the trigger, firing the shotgun Kiritsis had pointed at the back of Hall’s head.—
Katie Rife,
IndieWire,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The lakes froze thick enough to skate across, the air stung sharp in the lungs, and the game every boy seemed to dream about was hockey.—
Zach Sweet,
Kansas City Star,
9 Sep. 2025
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Lim said he was stung by the spinoff news and its exclusion of the expansive cast.—
Mekishana Pierre September 8,
EW.com,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fiddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiddled. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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