as in wiggly
making jerky or restless movements
a squirmy baby
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Recent Examples of squirmy
Fjord is a squirmy drama in which Stan and Renate Reinsve play a married couple who move with their five children from Romania to Norway to be closer to Reinsve’s mother, only to draw the interest of child protective services when a teacher at school spots bruises on one of the kids.
—
Rachel Handler, Vulture, 26 May 2026
With that disclosure out in the open, the rest of the squirmy attendees subtly sank deeper into their seats, accepting Steinem’s orbit as a safe space.
—Savannah Walsh, Vanity Fair, 22 Apr. 2026
One of them is a squirmy, intensely relatable dark comedy about the escalating horrors of planning a wedding.
—Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Adding to the action is a colorful, squirmy worm that will get kids laughing and moving.
—Pamela Brill, Parents, 2 Oct. 2025
Rachel Handler, Vulture, 26 May 2026
With that disclosure out in the open, the rest of the squirmy attendees subtly sank deeper into their seats, accepting Steinem’s orbit as a safe space.
—Savannah Walsh, Vanity Fair, 22 Apr. 2026
One of them is a squirmy, intensely relatable dark comedy about the escalating horrors of planning a wedding.
—Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Adding to the action is a colorful, squirmy worm that will get kids laughing and moving.
—Pamela Brill, Parents, 2 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for squirmy
Adjective
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Teaching first grade has always involved dealing with wiggly and talkative kids.—
Stacker,
Hartford Courant,
9 May 2026
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At the edges of the channel, near the walls, Rout and Lim’s team saw rapid fluctuations of molecules — those were the wiggly nucleoporins.—
Yasemin Saplakoglu,
Quanta Magazine,
9 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Even Jason notices the guests are fidgety.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
24 Feb. 2026
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The two go toe-to-toe in power and precision, but the Breville’s intuitive assembly is a massive improvement on the Cuisinart’s notoriously fidgety and fussy locking mechanisms.—
Noah Kaufman,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The contest was laboured for much of normal time and extra-time, lacking a defining moment or image, but Gabriel gave it to us with a twitchy attempt over the crossbar, a crushing error which led PSG captain Marquinhos (his Brazil team-mate) to console him immediately, above.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
1 June 2026
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And this person is a twitchy young woman with a gorgeous mop of hair.—
Erin Qualey,
Vulture,
29 May 2026
Adjective
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Brueggmann was more than good Friday, lifting the Warriors to a 2-1 upset victory over Marist in a Class 4A state semifinal game at Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria.—
Tony Baranek,
Chicago Tribune,
6 June 2026
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According to the standings, this wasn’t much of an upset.—
Sean McIndoe,
New York Times,
5 June 2026
Adjective
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Medieval Christians looked at the very same phenomenon and imagined it as a reflection of divine will, the transformation of a wriggly worm into a flying jewel an earthly reminder of the transfiguration of Jesus to Christ.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Kyoto, Japan — Nancy Higginbotham wasn’t worried when her 20-year-old son got on a train by himself during their family vacation in Japan.—
Jessie Yeung,
CNN Money,
4 June 2026
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Farmers are now worried the beef industry could be on the fritz for a while.—
Justin Klawans,
TheWeek,
4 June 2026
Adjective
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Spinella shucks off sentimentality, always showing us Con’s offhand humor and sometimes nervous, defensive rambling.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
3 June 2026
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Companies start to get nervous when the percentage of shareholders blessing their pay plans dips well below the average, which is slightly above 90%, said Elizabeth Bieber, partner at the law firm Freshfields who leads shareholder engagement.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
2 June 2026
Adjective
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Unlike the coolly impassive Pop artists, the Who weren’t afraid to get personal, or to let their art echo the anxious, kinky, maladjusted yammering in their own heads.—
Jeremy Lybarger,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
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In Rio, the runner was an anxious up-and-comer, the youngest American track-and-field Olympian since 1972.—
Katie Abel,
Footwear News,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Squirmy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squirmy. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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