1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

waggled

verb

past tense of waggle
as in flapped
to move from side to side or up and down with quick jerky motions the rabbit waggled its ears and hopped away

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

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 waggled Pebbles twitched, branches waggled, cholla wiggled, weeds erupted then dried up and died. — Alina Hartounian, NPR, 20 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for waggled
  1. flapped
  2. flicked
  3. wagged
  4. twitched
  5. swung
  6. swished
  7. bobbed
  8. jerked
Verb
  • Above the dancers flapped a ring of American flags, each representing a military veteran from the community who had passed away.
    — Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Luna then tried to jump over Sandy to get back into the bowl of the nest, but Sandy lost her balance and flapped down to the lower branches.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 16 July 2026
Definition of flapped
Verb
  • Reus played a free kick from near the left end line to the near post, where Klauss flicked in a header in the 76th minute.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2026
  • The 26-year-old flicked a shot from the top of the 6-yard box off the left post, but slammed home the rebound.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of flicked
Verb
  • From the dugout, Diamondbacks bench coach Jeff Banister wagged his finger at the Cubs.
    — Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Dogs being hurried out of the apartment building by their owners wagged their tails, excited by the commotion.
    — Jen Guadarrama, IndyStar, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of wagged
Verb
  • Many a club’s board would have twitched in the face of the bare data, but the chain of command above Arteta stayed the course, and the FOMO is so high that tickets for Palace away this weekend are going for £45,000 ($60,000) on resale sites.
    — Phil Hay, New York Times, 21 May 2026
  • My jaw twitched uncontrollably.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 May 2026
Definition of twitched
Verb
  • The extinct bird seems to have swung their club hands in fights.
    — Niranjana Rajalakshmi, Popular Science, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Batting in the bottom of the third with two outs against Reds starter Brandon Williamson, Acuña swung at a 3-1 cutter and fouled the pitch off his left leg near the shin area.
    — Chad Bishop, AJC.com, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of swung
Verb
  • Waiters swished past with little pots of lemon sorbet and glasses of Sprankel, a sparkling wine from Babylonstoren, Roos and Bekker’s farm and hotel in South Africa’s Franschhoek wine valley.
    — Mary Holland, Travel + Leisure, 18 July 2026
  • This was supposed to be magic, swished in from waaaaay downtown.
    — Candace Buckner, New York Times, 27 June 2026
Definition of swished
Verb
  • On a recent morning, surfers bobbed in the water off North Beach, not far from the rocky structure shoring up the train tracks by the sea.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026
  • As the balloon carrying the cauldron rose and bobbed a couple hundred feet overhead, many got busy taking photos and recording videos and selfies.
    — Hannah Bloch, NPR, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of bobbed
Verb
  • Somewhere nearby, in a dark office, an eavesdropping oreja has just jerked to attention on his hard little chair.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Once the squid gather near the surface, lines fitted with bait are lowered into the water and rapidly jerked up and down to imitate small prey such as shrimp, triggering strikes before the catch is reeled aboard.
    — Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 20 June 2026
Definition of jerked

Browse Nearby Words

waggle
waggled
waggles
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Waggled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/waggled. Accessed 28 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of fungible

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
See All