FIDDLED Synonyms: 93 Similar and Opposite Words

fiddled

verb

past tense of fiddle

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

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 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

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
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

Definition of fidgeted

Verb

Not to be cheated in front of the largest assembly of Hall of Famers since the 2008 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, Schwarber flew out twice to deep center field.

— Dan Hayes, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
Bo told Lu that if the audit produced evidence that he had been cheated, Wang should go to prison.

— Hailey Wang, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of cheated

Verb

The film was a left-wing Sunday-school lesson dressed up as…another tossed-together Cox neo-Western.

— Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 15 Aug. 2026
The Yankees had just taken a 1-0 lead on a solo home run from Trent Grisham when home plate umpire Vic Carapazza tossed Boone.

— Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 15 Aug. 2026

Definition of tossed

Verb

He was plucked out of retirement to take on the demanding role of helping in the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11.

— Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 17 Aug. 2026
Doubs plucked the ball over Gonzalez, who had successfully backed him near the boundary but couldn’t box out the 6-foot-2 receiver entirely.

— Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of plucked

Verb

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
My jaw twitched uncontrollably.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 May 2026

Definition of twitched

Verb

Silver is now in its fifth straight year of structural deficit, squeezed by solar, electric vehicles, and the hardware powering AI.

— Rob Kaplan, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Affordability does not improve when Washington adds trillions to the debt while working families are still getting squeezed.

— Terry Collins, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of squeezed

Verb

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
His Japanese guest, usually a paragon of diplomatic cool, visibly squirmed.

— Andreas Kluth, Twin Cities, 14 Apr. 2026

Definition of squirmed

Verb

Hate crime charges have been filed against a man who disrupted Shabbat services in Manhattan's Central Synagogue and struck two people while being hustled outside Friday night.

— ABC News, ABC News, 15 Aug. 2026
Hong’s early capture of the data-center issue, which was not especially ideological, is a good example of how consistently the Party’s much larger traditional wing has been out-hustled.

— Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2026