as in twitched
to make jerky or restless movements
small children are likely to fidget in church
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Recent Examples of fidgeted
Children fidgeted in the relentless August heat.
—
Jacqui Gifford, Travel + Leisure, 29 Sep. 2025
Jacqui Gifford, Travel + Leisure, 29 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fidgeted
Verb
-
Kearse twitched briefly after the lethal drugs began entering his system but stopped moving several minutes later.—
Freida Frisaro,
Sun Sentinel,
3 Mar. 2026
-
Through the scope, a polar bear twitched on the ice, 25 yards in front of me.—
Scott Haugen,
Outdoor Life,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
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
-
Carl squirmed away from some of his earlier remarks minimizing the Holocaust but stood by his views on anti-white persecution and the Great Replacement.—
Andreas Kluth,
Mercury News,
28 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
We are jerked between past and present as his backstory gets filled in, one jogged memory at a time.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Aisha jerked and opened her eyes.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Cooper Flagg was heavily guarded in the left corner by Dyson Daniels with the shot clock winding down and tossed the ball to Naji Marshall, but the pass was picked off by Jalen Johnson.—
Mike Curtis,
Dallas Morning News,
18 Mar. 2026
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On Monday, at the conclusion of a round of batting practice, Harper tossed his bat toward an empty pitcher’s mound.—
Bill Shaikin,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
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
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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
Verb
-
Poking at the dirt outside of the home with a sharp metal rod soldered to a handle, Tello wiggled the rod around, pulled it out, and smelled it.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
27 Feb. 2026
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Pierce wiggled, jumped, twisted, pulled, huffed and puffed his way out of that straitjacket, taking a little bow at the end.—
Lisa Gutierrez,
Kansas City Star,
25 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fidgeted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fidgeted. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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