as in twitching
to make jerky or restless movements
small children are likely to fidget in church
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in fiddling
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fidgeting
Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2025
Getting the band to fit right took me a bit of fidgeting.
—PC Magazine, 15 Aug. 2025
Rather than being persuaded by your content, they’re distracted by poor eye contact, fidgeting or a tentative tone.
—Sue Reynolds-Frost, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2025
Rebekah Riess, CNN Money, 5 Sep. 2025
Verb
Video of the attack shows Brown fidgeting and restless.
—Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2025
Getting the band to fit right took me a bit of fidgeting.
—PC Magazine, 15 Aug. 2025
Rather than being persuaded by your content, they’re distracted by poor eye contact, fidgeting or a tentative tone.
—Sue Reynolds-Frost, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2025
Noun
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fidgeting
Verb
-
Koberidze opens with a montage of cats, foot traffic, street dogs twitching in their sleep, statues and trees casting long shadows across buildings.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
17 Aug. 2025
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Prater, who was expecting gory details, is a little harder to read, though his face twitching doesn’t seem like a great sign.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
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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
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Life’s hard enough, and if facial fiddling is music to your ears, have at it.—
Valerie Monroe,
Allure,
21 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Still, Sabbath sounded amazing, the band’s distinctive vibe of limitless cosmic encumbrance, of Man squirming under the thumb of Fate, God, madness—the essential heavy-metal vision—somehow magnified by the venerable wobbliness of its playing.—
James Parker,
The Atlantic,
12 Sep. 2025
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With net in hand, the future microbial geochemist dredged up seaweed and mud squirming with snails, crab larvae and other small invertebrates.—
Laura Poppick,
Quanta Magazine,
20 Aug. 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
Verb
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But the way Herbert flashed early in his career, tossing seven touchdown passes and only one interception in a 2021 season sweep of the defending AFC champion Chiefs, had come to feel like a tease.—
Mike Sando,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
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Harrell’s improvement After a slow start against the Mountaineers in the Duke’s Mayo Classic, tossing an interception and completing just 54% of his passes, Harrell showed slight improvements against the Tar Heels’ defense.—
Hunter Bailey,
Charlotte Observer,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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One video posted to the social platform X appeared to show Kirk addressing the students, at one point speaking about gang violence, before being struck near the neck and later jerking to his left side.—
Caroline Vakil,
The Hill,
10 Sep. 2025
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The story follows a Jewish family across five generations, from childhood to adulthood, blending laughs and tear-jerking moments, just like in Bob-Waksberg’s other shows.—
Braedon Montgomery,
Forbes.com,
1 Sep. 2025
Noun
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True freedom isn't a future milestone; it's built from day one by designing for mobility, choosing clients who respect boundaries, building self-sufficient systems, mastering asynchronous communication, and pricing for a location-independent lifestyle.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
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One focused on people with knee and hip osteoarthritis and found that resistance training not only builds strength but also reduces discomfort and improves mobility.—
Dana Santas,
CNN Money,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Zaya, stood at the back door, wiggling and barking with excitement to see her owner return home.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Aug. 2025
-
To train the decoder, each person would imagine a series of different movements (like moving their whole right arm or wiggling their left thumb) while the researchers looked at the data coming from the electrodes and tried to find the most obvious and reliable signal.—
Eliza Strickland,
IEEE Spectrum,
21 Feb. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Fidgeting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fidgeting. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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