wriggles

present tense third-person singular of wriggle
1
2
as in crawls
to move slowly with the body close to the ground a worm slowly wriggled across the sidewalk

Synonyms & Similar Words

3
as in worms
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

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 wriggles That calls for a little extra creativity from its mom — and the movie’s narrator (Emilia Clarke) — who wriggles her mandibles and gets to work embellishing upon what Dahl imagined. Peter Debruge, Variety, 14 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wriggles
Verb
  • When Brian and Murtagh report that Dougal offended the Grants and Colum had to promise Ellen’s hand to appease the situation, Lord Lovat squirms.
    Lincee Ray Published, EW.com, 15 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • When a storm crawls like this, rainfall piles up over the same towns for days.
    Briana Waxman, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Everything except Eidra, who asks him not to leave and crawls into his arms.
    Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 18 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • When the Linguina Monograno all’Astice arrives, there are oohs and aahs as a waiter tosses the pasta in front of guests and finishes with a sprinkling of zest from a cedro, a large Italian citrus.
    Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 10 Oct. 2025
  • The second of those four TD tosses was the 250th of Mahomes’ career, and no quarterback in NFL history had reached that milestone in fewer games.
    Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 30 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Meyers will continue being a name to watch as the deadline creeps closer.
    Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025
  • The Japanese influence creeps in again with a matcha white chocolate chip cookie.
    Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The Savant stars Chastain as an undercover investigator who infiltrates online hate groups and takes them down from the inside.
    Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Downy brome, an invasive weed, infiltrates grassland and increases wildfire risk in the Great Basin region.
    Pam Marrone, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The man fidgets, shifts around in his seat and fixates on Zarutska before pulling out a small knife and striking her multiple times around her neck.
    Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 8 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The campers and counselors died after torrential rain forced water levels on the river, which snakes through multiple summer camps in the region, to rise from 3 feet to 30 feet in a matter of hours.
    Karina Tsui, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2025
  • The district snakes through southeast Texas from the border near Hidalgo − through Pulido's native Edinburg − and northward up around Corpus Christi, where the Tejano singer Selena has her roots.
    Eduardo Cuevas, USA Today, 17 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • But when a famous author sneaks into town and a body is found in his penthouse apartment, cunning fox investigator Vera Vixen must piece together what happened.
    Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 18 Oct. 2025
  • Determined, Khaled sneaks into Israel and embarks on a journey to the sea.
    Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Wriggles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wriggles. Accessed 26 Oct. 2025.

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