Synonyms of wriggled

wriggled

verb

past tense of wriggle

1

as in squirmed

to make jerky or restless movements

a toddler wriggling in his seat all throughout the church service

Synonyms & Similar Words

• squirmed
• twitched
• fidgeted
• tossed
• jerked
• wiggled
• twisted
• writhed
• fiddled
• shivered
• trembled
• jiggled
• shook
• thrashed
• jigged
• threshed
• squiggled
• quivered
• shuddered
• fluttered
• flitted
• quaked
• paced
• twittered

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• rested
• relaxed
• unwound
• stilled
• calmed (down)

2

as in crawled

to move slowly with the body close to the ground

a worm slowly wriggled across the sidewalk

Synonyms & Similar Words

• crawled
• crept
• slid
• snaked
• slithered
• tiptoed
• crouched
• wormed
• squatted
• groveled
• sneaked
• bellied
• edged
• inched
• stole
• nosed
• skulked

3

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• infiltrated
• sneaked
• slipped
• inserted
• wormed
• worked in
• wiggled
• introduced
• wound
• insinuated
• crept
• edged
• interposed
• interpolated

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of wriggled

On a couple of occasions, the teenager took the ball facing his own goal and, seemingly forced to go backwards, simply turned and wriggled the other way to move into acres of space, getting City up the pitch. — Sam Lee, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026

The baby squirrel wriggled, knocked from its forest home in the storm. — Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 20 Aug. 2026

Countless individual tread blocks, divided by wide grooves, wriggled around instead of digging in. — Michael Harley, Forbes.com, 30 June 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