worms

Definition of wormsnext
present tense third-person singular of worm
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

3
as in snakes
to move slowly with the body close to the ground the cat silently wormed along the ground as it snuck up on the bird

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 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for worms
Verb
  • 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
  • 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
  • Nessa infiltrates Maryam’s life as her nurse, aiming to find the truth.
    Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 7 May 2026
  • Conversely, water infiltrates sandy loam soil relatively quickly but also drains out fairly quickly.
    Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • The River Caqueta snakes nearly 1,800 miles into the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
    Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 27 May 2026
  • The plaster, cave-like living room (complete with a cozy fireplace) served as a backdrop for trivia night; the ice-cold creek, which snakes along the five-acre property, was our personal swimming spot to chase off the heat of the day.
    Aemilia Madden, Vogue, 27 May 2026
Verb
  • One of those comes when Nikki kills Megan Lawless’ Sarah after Bear sneaks out to talk to her in her car.
    Lexi Carson, HollywoodReporter, 22 May 2026
  • That day, Riley had been editing a sequence in which Corvette sneaks into a San Francisco condo owned by Christie, her fashion idol, by hiding inside a coffee delivery cart.
    Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 17 May 2026
Verb
  • At sunset, the city starts glowing around you while traffic crawls silently below.
    Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 28 May 2026
  • Critics on the Croisette are starting to resemble that classic comic-strip panel in which an explorer crawls desperately across the sand toward an oasis that’s only a mirage.
    Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2026
Verb
  • 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
  • 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
  • This is where over-reliance creeps in.
    Gregory Lipich, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026
  • Hesitation creeps in, options narrow and teams begin playing within themselves.
    Rick Burton, Sportico.com, 18 May 2026
Verb
  • So the apparent meeting is the result of Venus rising higher in the evening sky while Jupiter gradually slips toward the horizon.
    Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 25 May 2026
  • Gold-tone hardware adds a polished finish, while the neutral hue slips seamlessly into nearly any summer wardrobe.
    Rosie Marder, Travel + Leisure, 22 May 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Worms.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/worms. Accessed 1 Jun. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on worms

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