as in minor
lacking importance
you should delegate these fiddling matters to your staff so that you can focus on more important issues
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in twitching
to make jerky or restless movements
the executive fiddled with a pen as she impatiently waited for the meeting to begin
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cheating
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
conscienceless grifters who had spent their lives fiddling the naive
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in fidgeting
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fiddling
The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 5 Aug. 2025
Life’s hard enough, and if facial fiddling is music to your ears, have at it.
—Valerie Monroe, Allure, 21 Feb. 2025
The fiddling pays off when the fresh herb vinaigrette dresses a mix of Iceberg lettuce and one of the mixed greens combos sold in the marketplace.
—Cathy Thomas, Orange County Register, 13 Jan. 2025
Saturday Fiddle Contest: 11 a.m. at Alyeska Pipeline Colony Stage
Grab your fiddle and play a tune or just check out some of the state’s best sawing on their instruments in a number of categories, including youth, teen, open and twin fiddling.
—Chris Bieri, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Aug. 2023
This camera snaps great pics on the fly, with just a touch more fiddling required for focus at times, versus say the Pixel 7 Pro.
—Dave Altavilla, Forbes, 10 Feb. 2023
With more time on her hands, Henderson has been learning improvisation, bluegrass fiddling and improvisation.
—George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2020
Again, no fiddling.
—Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2020
Such is always the case with this sort of self-interested fiddling.
—Eric Gordy, Foreign Affairs, 10 Oct. 2018
Keith Phipps, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
The party that fails this test will be remembered — if at all — as the one fiddling while Rome was automated.
—Matt K. Lewis, Twin Cities, 19 Aug. 2025
Haggard was fiddling on the new strings when Marian, Dad’s mother, who’d taken over as the store’s bookkeeper, walked by.
—Nancy Walecki, The Atlantic, 7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Now scientists have found that, with a little fiddling, the feathers can be adjusted to turn flashes of light into laser beams.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 5 Aug. 2025
Life’s hard enough, and if facial fiddling is music to your ears, have at it.
—Valerie Monroe, Allure, 21 Feb. 2025
The fiddling pays off when the fresh herb vinaigrette dresses a mix of Iceberg lettuce and one of the mixed greens combos sold in the marketplace.
—Cathy Thomas, Orange County Register, 13 Jan. 2025
Saturday Fiddle Contest: 11 a.m. at Alyeska Pipeline Colony Stage
Grab your fiddle and play a tune or just check out some of the state’s best sawing on their instruments in a number of categories, including youth, teen, open and twin fiddling.
—Chris Bieri, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Aug. 2023
This camera snaps great pics on the fly, with just a touch more fiddling required for focus at times, versus say the Pixel 7 Pro.
—Dave Altavilla, Forbes, 10 Feb. 2023
With more time on her hands, Henderson has been learning improvisation, bluegrass fiddling and improvisation.
—George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2020
Again, no fiddling.
—Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2020
Such is always the case with this sort of self-interested fiddling.
—Eric Gordy, Foreign Affairs, 10 Oct. 2018
Noun
But in private, Arthur advises her to exercise a little more discretion in her, um, fiddling.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
The party that fails this test will be remembered — if at all — as the one fiddling while Rome was automated.
—Matt K. Lewis, Twin Cities, 19 Aug. 2025
Haggard was fiddling on the new strings when Marian, Dad’s mother, who’d taken over as the store’s bookkeeper, walked by.
—Nancy Walecki, The Atlantic, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fiddling
Adjective
-
Russell’s crash in 2023 showed that a minor mistake can wipe you off the podium.—
Madeline Coleman,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
-
In susceptible people, the immune system reacts too strongly to minor exposures, creating chronic inflammation.—
Daryl Austin,
USA Today,
7 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Applause intermingled with tears as the families of the Camp Mystic campers and counselors looked on, many with small children fidgeting in their Sunday-best attire behind the governor.—
Rebekah Riess,
CNN Money,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
This isn’t the first time that the couple was surrounded by cheating rumors.—
Lea Veloso,
StyleCaster,
30 Sep. 2025
-
She and Jon, who married in 1999, divorced in 2009, the same year as the cheating rumors.—
Carson Blackwelder,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Patients first experience twitching or weakness in a limb, often followed by slurred speech.—
Vanessa Etienne,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
By a rough count, Flagg played in approximately six different lineups, including some small-ball looks with Dwight Powell at center.—
Lawrence Dow,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
7 Oct. 2025
-
While there is acknowledgement that smaller teams, such as Norway’s Valarenga, could be on the receiving end of heavy defeats with the shift in format, the benefits of seeing top seeds clash early in the competition mean more overall interest.—
Megan Feringa,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to one week; rewarm before tossing or brushing on any protein.—
Kimberly Holland,
Southern Living,
5 Oct. 2025
-
Several men at the docks made a great show of tossing all the luggage from man to man to man, then piling it neatly on the shore.—
Catherine Lacey,
New Yorker,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
But, to do you any good, squeezing the veins must propel the blood in the right direction, toward the heart.—
Bryant Stamford,
Louisville Courier Journal,
2 Oct. 2025
-
The earbuds are controlled by squeezing the stem.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
29 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Throughout the writhing and the screaming, Julia’s fortitude wears down a defiant Davina, whose history with Lovat feeds the moment.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
6 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fiddling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiddling. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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