as in wiggly
making jerky or restless movements
a squirmy baby
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Recent Examples of squirmy
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
Conductors often fetishize the opening bars of this opera, their squirmy alternation of silence and piquant dissonance.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2026
Adding to the action is a colorful, squirmy worm that will get kids laughing and moving.
—Pamela Brill, Parents, 2 Oct. 2025
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
Conductors often fetishize the opening bars of this opera, their squirmy alternation of silence and piquant dissonance.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 11 Mar. 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
-
Teaching first grade has always involved dealing with wiggly and talkative kids.—
Stacker,
Hartford Courant,
9 May 2026
-
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
-
Even Jason notices the guests are fidgety.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
24 Feb. 2026
-
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
-
Strictly as an athlete, Perkins is impressive with sideline-to-sideline range, twitchy burst and speed to close.—
Josh Kendall,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2026
-
His routes are twitchy and his speed translates to easy separation skills.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Last month, despite Orbán’s formidable, long-standing attempts to rig the legal and electoral systems in his favor, Magyar won, in a stunning upset.—
Andrew Marantz,
New Yorker,
9 May 2026
-
Gunther was upset that Rhodes was taking his screen time.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
9 May 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
At Cal Poly Pomona, director of media relations Cynthia Peters directed students and staff who were worried about being unable to access their course materials as a result of the incident to a Reddit post uploaded by the school’s Bookstore faculty on Thursday.—
Kristy Hutchings,
Daily News,
7 May 2026
-
But locals are worried that other companies could move in.—
NPR,
NPR,
7 May 2026
Adjective
-
In the draft room, Bisciotti looked nervous as the pick approached, worried another team — or even his own GM — might snag Randall.—
Michael Silver,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Some nervous Democrats and their allies worry that language could thwart installation of a Democratic majority in the next Congress.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Speech is converted to text, processed by a language model, and passed through a personality layer designed to mimic C-3PO’s formal, anxious tone.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
4 May 2026
-
The sixth Kathy is an anxious traveler.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
4 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Squirmy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squirmy. Accessed 10 May. 2026.
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