TWITCHING Synonyms: 68 Similar and Opposite Words

twitching 1 of 2

noun

as in trembling

a series of slight movements by a body back and forth or from side to side the twitching of my cat's ears was a signal that I should stop petting her before she got any angrier

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twitching

2 of 2

verb

present participle of twitch

as in fidgeting

to make jerky or restless movements the dog twitched in her sleep

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in jerking

to move or cause to move with a sharp quick motion the rabbit twitched its nose

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of twitching

Noun

Casting near banks and using a twitching technique can increase success during the hatch. — Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 14 May 2026 During this phase, octopuses display visible twitching along with rapid changes in skin color and texture, per NPR. — Samantha Agate, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2026 Gosnell did not testify at his 2013 trial, but his defense attorney argued that none of the fetuses were born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms, according to the AP. — Greg Norman-Diamond, FOXNews.com, 24 Mar. 2026 Gosnell did not testify at his 2013 trial, but his defense attorney argued that none of the fetuses was born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms. — ABC News, 23 Mar. 2026 The disease, which gets worse over time, starts with muscle twitching, slurred speech, or weakness in an arm or leg. — Jason Pham, StyleCaster, 20 Feb. 2026 After 10 weeks without food, Muraisi is experiencing involuntary muscular twitching and severe chest pains, according to Prisoners for Palestine, with her doctors warning of possible cardiovascular collapse. — Kara Fox, CNN Money, 14 Jan. 2026 Patients first experience twitching or weakness in a limb, as Decker did. — Cara Lynn Shultz, PEOPLE, 16 Dec. 2025 The more serious side effects of caffeine overdose include trouble breathing, sudden high blood pressure, muscle twitching, confusion, vomiting and seizures. — News Editor, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025

Verb

Green said his symptoms began when his feet started twitching in his sleep. — ABC News, 30 July 2026 Somewhere, John Tortorella's eye is twitching with rage after that. — Matt Reigle Outkick, FOXNews.com, 25 July 2026 There is something cultish about that idea — the player who tends not to start but has the knack to appear later on with antennae twitching, ready to seize the day and alter the course of a match. — Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 21 June 2026 Leon Stetson was allegedly twitching, so officers moved him away from Carrie Stetson and started to render medical aid. — Kellie Love, Hartford Courant, 12 June 2026 Durrell alternates between slapstick domestic high jinks, wanderings through the lush natural landscape, and increasingly ambitious investigations of biological life, from tracking twitching bacteria in pond water to the mating habits of insects. — Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 10 June 2026 The Hormuz crisis will not end when oil markets stop twitching. — John W.h. Denton Ao, Fortune, 6 June 2026 The Buena Vista Social Club features feet-twitching music and Wolf says that, obviously, people want to get up and dance but that’s just not allowed. — Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 2 June 2026 Here, American fighter planes, cargo ships and Japanese freighters have spent decades transforming into thriving artificial reefs, draped in coral and surrounded by twitching clouds of tropical fish. — Dea Jusufi, Forbes.com, 9 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for twitching

Noun

All the trembling, as Kimbangu touched the sick, alarmed European settlers and reassured the plantation workers who trekked to Nkamba in search of healing.

— Rodney Muhumuza, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
At first this change of scale vivifies the butterfly—its brief stillness, the angle of its wings, its trembling—while freezing everything else, including the novel’s action.

— Ben Lerner, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026

Definition of trembling

Noun

But Tuesday’s shaking, which toppled shelves and hurled computers to the floor, was worse in Yatsushiro than anything Matsushita experienced a decade ago.

— USA Today, USA Today, 30 July 2026
During the many scenes of roiling seas and inevitable shipwrecks, the shaking met the action appropriately.

— Matt Minton, Variety, 22 July 2026

Definition of shaking

Verb

With the contact patch sliding and squirming, the brakes had less to work with—and the car took just enough extra distance to end in an impact.

— Michael Harley, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
Unless your companion could use a hand or is traveling with young kids (in the latter case, if this person also happens to be your spouse or partner, really not cool to leave them with the stroller, diaper bag, squirming kids).

— CNT Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 June 2026

Definition of squirming

Verb

The episode feinted toward genuine rapprochement before yanking the rug out, leaving the Gang pelted with an industrial-grade indoor blizzard and then happily chucking rocks at passing trains, as was Mac and Charlie’s childhood tradition.

— Dennis Perkins, Entertainment Weekly, 28 July 2026
The tentacular Scylla is seen briefly but makes an impact, yanking sailors off Odysseus’s ship in a series of loud jump scares.

— Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 July 2026

Definition of yanking

Noun

The horror has come now like a storm— what if this night prefigured the night after death— what if all thereafter was an eternal quivering on the edge of an abyss, with everything base and vicious in oneself urging one forward and the baseness and viciousness of the world just ahead.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Mar. 2026
The old dog slowed to a stop, nose full of bird stink, feathery tail quivering.

— Joel M. Vance, Outdoor Life, 29 Oct. 2025

Definition of quivering

Verb

Spread on a sheet pan and roast at 400 F, tossing halfway through, until tender and lightly caramelized, about 25 minutes total.

— ABC News, ABC News, 6 Aug. 2026
How to Remove Sunscreen From Washable Clothing If the sunscreen lands on a washable garment, follow these steps before tossing it into the laundry.

— Jamie Cuccinelli, Martha Stewart, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of tossing

Browse Nearby Words

twitches

twitching

twitchy

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Style

“Twitching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/twitching. Accessed 8 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of twitching

noun

verb

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