1
as in encroaches
to advance gradually beyond the usual or desirable limits
neighborhoods worming into lands reserved for wildlife
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in infiltrates
to introduce in a gradual, secret, or clever way
over a period of several years, the undercover agent was able to worm his way into the drug kingpin's confidence
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of worms
MomTok got Taylor on the plane and off to star in The Bachelorette, but not before Dakota worms his way in one last time.
—
Joe Reid, Vulture, 13 Mar. 2026
Guiteau eventually worms his way into an audience, ostensibly seeking an ambassadorship for his dubious contributions to the campaign but, in reality, requesting a path to greatness.
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2025
Joe Reid, Vulture, 13 Mar. 2026
Guiteau eventually worms his way into an audience, ostensibly seeking an ambassadorship for his dubious contributions to the campaign but, in reality, requesting a path to greatness.
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for worms
Verb
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Paglen’s ideas, collected between two covers, carve a clean, linear path through our messy neural era, engaging in the kind of big-picture sense-making that books remain well suited to do, even as AI encroaches on this terrain.—
Louis Bury,
ARTnews.com,
1 May 2026
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Meta, Anthropic and Apple all now use TPUs, as Google increasingly encroaches on a market cornered by Nvidia's graphics processing units.—
Katie Tarasov,
CNBC,
20 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Conversely, water infiltrates sandy loam soil relatively quickly but also drains out fairly quickly.—
Stephanie Osmanski,
Better Homes & Gardens,
26 Apr. 2026
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The film centers on a wealthy family whose polished exterior begins to crack when an ancient centipede spirit infiltrates their bloodline.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Another car snakes down the road.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Apr. 2026
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Londoners won’t queue for just anything, but the coffee and pastries at Jolene are well worth joining the line that often snakes around the corner.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Ortiz sneaks field recordings and samples into these songs, too—each adding texture to the universe of her songs and evoking the wider world that exists just outside the frame of her narration.—
Marissa Lorusso,
Pitchfork,
24 Mar. 2026
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But some sunlight still sneaks through Earth’s atmosphere, bends around the planet and lands on the moon.—
Tiffany Acosta,
AZCentral.com,
3 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Think about how often your toddler crawls near the dog bed or your kids toss pet toys around the living room.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
9 Apr. 2026
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In the book, Grace drags Rocky back to his part of the ship, exposing himself to the Eridian environment; in the film, Rocky crawls back while Grace is unconscious.—
Matthew Razak,
Space.com,
23 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Many streaming hubs fill each commercial break with an assortment of spots that appear due to programmatic buying that inserts ads based on algorithms tied to demographics and geography.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
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Ives inserts hints of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in the meditative work, and at other times seems to conjure up church bells through the piano.—
Sheila Regan,
Twin Cities,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Mildew creeps along the corners of the tub.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Charlotte Observer,
30 Apr. 2026
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Win it, and suddenly the series tightens, the doubt creeps in and the path gets a lot more complicated for Orlando.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But there's one notable difference between Sánchez Bezos's gown and the work of art that currently hangs in the Met—a strap that slips from Sánchez Bezos's shoulder.—
Dalila Muata,
NBC news,
5 May 2026
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Appearing with her family at major events in the royal calendar, such as Easter and Christmas masses, Trooping the Color and the Princess of Wales' Christmas concert, the avid sports fan, occasionally slips into the stands at the Wimbledon and other events.—
Séraphine Roger,
Vanity Fair,
2 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Worms.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/worms. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
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