as in flaps
a quick jerky movement from side to side or up and down
a quick waggle of her head to indicate "no"
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in flicks
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
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for waggles
Noun
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Sarah Michelle Gellar strutted in the purple platform boots of the fashionable and upbeat Daphne Blake in both live-action Scooby-Doo flicks.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
14 June 2026 -
Capote, Moneyball, Foxcatcher, and then…no new Bennett Miller flicks.—
Nate Freeman,
Vanity Fair,
12 June 2026
Verb
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The structure flaps its wings when powered by electricity.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Apr. 2026
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View gallery - 7 images A wooden dragon sculpture that gently flaps its wings has become a crowd-funding hit, but after seeing the traditional handcrafted work that's been put into every single model, making each one unique, the value of such a piece becomes strikingly clear.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Moreover, if Griffin stepped into public life now, the cynical wags in finance would declare the reason obvious—his hedge fund’s returns have been sagging.—
Gary Sernovitz,
New Yorker,
15 June 2026
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Many critics, political pundits, and wags asked, somewhat rhetorically, whether anyone in the administration recalls how handing the responsibility of nuclear weaponry over to machines turned out in the Terminator movies.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Persistent muscle twitches Everyone’s muscles twitch from time to time, usually at various locations.—
Angela Haupt,
Time,
15 Jan. 2026
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Some devices, for example, track eye movements or other small muscle twitches to let users select words from a screen.—
Emma R. Hasson,
Scientific American,
14 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Marie dips them in paint and swings them like a brush, leaving thick, violent marks across a white canvas.—
Nia Dumas,
NPR,
16 June 2026
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Think about a car door that swings open near a cyclist.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
15 June 2026
Verb
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The study points to a protein called HDAC3, which switches certain genes on and off to keep the lining sturdy.—
Ryan Brennan,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
18 June 2026
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When using a device like an iPhone, a child switches tasks every 65 seconds on average, training their brains to expect constant novelty.—
Kira Willey,
CNBC,
17 June 2026
Verb
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Her head bobs gently, then sharply tilts at specific moments, particularly when certain words cut through the stream of conversation.—
Melissa Fleur Afshar,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Apr. 2026
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Just after lunchtime on a Saturday in November, a sea of purple braids bobs in unison, barely clearing the tops of the movie-theater seats behind them.—
Eliza Berman,
Time,
9 Dec. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Waggles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/waggles. Accessed 23 Jun. 2026.
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