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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Nessa infiltrates Maryam’s life as her nurse, aiming to find the truth.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
7 May 2026
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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
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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While the males are fighting, the female sneaks off to get some quick action behind enemy lines.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
8 May 2026
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On the eve of a family vacation, the eldest daughter sneaks out to see her boyfriend.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
6 May 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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One image inserts Coalie next to a coal-mining family that otherwise looks like an ad that could have appeared a century ago.—
Annie Persons,
The Conversation,
7 May 2026
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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
Verb
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Mira’s politics are still primarily shaped by her parents, but the culture creeps in.—
Anna Wiener,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
Mildew creeps along the corners of the tub.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Charlotte Observer,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Once a good root system establishes, transplant slips into the garden.—
Barbara Gillette,
The Spruce,
10 May 2026
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From there, a weekly check-in and clear-out ensures nothing slips through the cracks.—
Jamie Cuccinelli,
Martha Stewart,
10 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Worms.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/worms. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
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