wriggled

past tense of wriggle
1
2
as in crawled
to move slowly with the body close to the ground a worm slowly wriggled across the sidewalk

Synonyms & Similar Words

3
as in snuck
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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for wriggled
Verb
  • The open section of their session lasted for 15 minutes — and Howe will have squirmed through every second — but there were laughs amid the stretches and shuttle runs.
    George Caulkin, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • This time, of the five live roaches, the least shy sashayed across the floor in front of the cookline and crawled under a dining area table.
    David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
  • Bamboo Penny’s 5270 W 116th Place, Leawood A live cockroach crawled on the wall next to the rice cooker at this Leawood Thai restaurant.
    Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 6 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Her hand twitched from the heat.
    Zuzana Říhová, Literary Hub, 26 Sep. 2025
  • My hand twitched toward the phone, muscle memory stronger than willpower.
    Maggie Downs, Oc Register, 9 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Each year, the mining site crept farther south as deposits dwindled, lengthening her father’s commute.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
  • The restaurant also suffered equipment loss as the flooding crept into its basement.
    Rachel Bernhard, jsonline.com, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Hunter could always shoot, but help defenders would stray off him if a driver infiltrated the lane.
    Fred Katz, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • From Taylor’s return to radio and late-night interviews to brand activations and more, TS12 has completely infiltrated the mainstream in a way that TS11 did not.
    Eric Renner Brown, Billboard, 14 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Children fidgeted in the relentless August heat.
    Jacqui Gifford, Travel + Leisure, 29 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • QuikTrip dropped 1% to 80 points while Buc-ee’s slid 1%, tying Love’s in fifth place with 79 points.
    Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 14 Oct. 2025
  • Penn State abruptly fired James Franklin on Sunday after the Nittany Lions slid from a 3-0 start into a three-game losing streak that included an unexpected 22–21 home loss to Northwestern, leaving the program 3-3 and winless in Big Ten play.
    Rowan Fisher-Shotton, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber snuck in just before the screening, as did Running Man filmmaker and frequent BFI-dweller Edgar Wright.
    Zac Ntim, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Investigators believe that Zemfira met the other girl on social media, and the two snuck out of their homes that Friday night for an adventure.
    Sam Gillette, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Wriggled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wriggled. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.

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