WRIGGLED Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

wriggled

verb

past tense of wriggle

as in squirmed

to make jerky or restless movements a toddler wriggling in his seat all throughout the church service

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in crawled

to move slowly with the body close to the ground a worm slowly wriggled across the sidewalk

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as in infiltrated

to introduce in a gradual, secret, or clever way within a month of his arrival, this social upstart had wriggled himself into the family's good graces

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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 wriggled Countless individual tread blocks, divided by wide grooves, wriggled around instead of digging in. — Michael Harley, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026 Venezuelan fans — who made the long trip to loanDepot Park for the 2026 World Baseball Classic — wriggled with every pitch. — Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 17 Mar. 2026 Play was recycled and Harrison Armstrong ended up firing a good chance too close to goalkeeper Senne Lammens after Iliman Ndiaye had wriggled free down the right. — Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2026 Emma wriggled obediently out of the offending articles. — Literary Hub, 26 Feb. 2026 In the soil in his palm, an earthworm wriggled. — Madeline Heim, jsonline.com, 26 Dec. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for wriggled

Verb

Belloumi’s 64th-minute strike with his left foot broke the deadlock in the second game of the two-leg affair and Gelhardt made sure with a low shot that squirmed past the Millwall goalkeeper.

— ABC News, ABC News, 11 May 2026
His Japanese guest, usually a paragon of diplomatic cool, visibly squirmed.

— Andreas Kluth, Twin Cities, 14 Apr. 2026

Definition of squirmed

Verb

Hull testified that Robinson later returned in different clothing, walking with a limp, rolled onto the roof of a building on campus and crawled to the edge of the rooftop around the time the shot was fired.

— N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 10 July 2026
Their father dismounted, went down on foot, climbed the fence his son had crawled under.

— Emily Ruskovich, The Atlantic, 7 July 2026

Definition of crawled

Verb

If 2025 was the year AI infiltrated every corner of consumer life — from social feeds to shopping — 2026 is the year people are pausing for thought.

— Amy O’Brien, Vogue, 14 July 2026
But in this case, Kamdang said, Patriot Front members faced no criminal charges and their identities were only revealed when online activists later infiltrated the group and leaked internal records.

— Odette Yousef, NPR, 11 July 2026

Definition of infiltrated

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

Grubbs grew up in a northwest suburb called Marietta, before the sprawl of Atlanta crept in.

— Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic, 16 July 2026
Indiana had crept back within striking distance early in the third quarter, and Gainbridge was rocking, sensing a signature Fever win in the making.

— Nathan Canilao, Mercury News, 16 July 2026

Definition of crept

Verb

Since 2017, Hebden has built up a tidy discography of sub rosa loosies and EPs under the alias, and even snuck out an ultra-limited vinyl anthology of them in 2021; some of those tracks first surfaced on the Four Tet album Parallel, in 2020.

— Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 18 July 2026
On Thursday, a man named Andrew Truelove allegedly snuck past a security guard on the Today show set and made his way toward the co-hosts in search of Today’s Al Roker, who was not on-screen at the time.

— Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 17 July 2026

Definition of sneaked

Verb

One woman ordered some home furniture while two children fidgeted nearby.

— David Lyons, Sun Sentinel, 23 Mar. 2026
Between each dance was an excruciating silence during which network-TV producers monitored and reset their equipment while the men fidgeted onstage like excitable children.

— Rebecca Jennings, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2026

Definition of fidgeted

Verb

Homebuyer affordability slid in June for the fifth consecutive month, according to the National Association of Realtors' latest housing affordability index.

— Sarah Agostino, CNBC, 17 July 2026
Cargo space measures 56 cubic feet behind the second row and expands to a healthy 112 cubic feet (3,171 L) with the seats folded and slid forward.

— ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 17 July 2026

Definition of slid

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“Wriggled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wriggled. Accessed 21 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of wriggled

verb

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