1
as in to squirm
to make jerky or restless movements
a toddler wriggling in his seat all throughout the church service
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in wiggly
making jerky or restless movements
after a while, the little girl got wriggly and had to be taken outside to the church vestibule
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of wriggle
John Tufts, Louisville Courier Journal, 13 Apr. 2025
Vaulting and wriggling, they were reduced to shrieks.
—Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2025
Don’t ignore tiny holes and crevasses, because rodents are great at wriggling their way through minute openings.
—Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 10 Mar. 2025
Rescuing the cat was quite a pursuit, requiring Ruff and both his sons to move the bed and wriggle their pet free.
—Rachel Raposas, People.com, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for wriggle
Verb
It was once believed the Worm Moon's name was derived from earthworms wriggling through March's warming soil, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, which heralded the first signs of spring as birds returned to feast on them.
—John Tufts, Louisville Courier Journal, 13 Apr. 2025
Vaulting and wriggling, they were reduced to shrieks.
—Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2025
Don’t ignore tiny holes and crevasses, because rodents are great at wriggling their way through minute openings.
—Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 10 Mar. 2025
Rescuing the cat was quite a pursuit, requiring Ruff and both his sons to move the bed and wriggle their pet free.
—Rachel Raposas, People.com, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for wriggle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wriggle
Verb
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Focker In-Law is primed to make theatrical audiences squirm on Nov. 25, 2026.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
28 July 2025
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Algae, bacteria, and simple protozoa would have squirmed around on top of or under the ice, and other specks of life would have swarmed alongside hydrothermal vents on the seafloor.—
Laura Poppick
July 22,
Literary Hub,
22 July 2025
Verb
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Adam crawls along the floor, left, about to put his finger in an electrical outlet, right, while his baby watches from afar.—
Daniella Gray,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Aug. 2025
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The company argued that its AI assistants operate on behalf of a user's request and are not systematically crawling the web for training data.—
Paulo Carvão,
Forbes.com,
12 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Technically, the Singapore Sling is not a tiki drink, but this tropical concoction has wormed its way into the tiki canon.—
Jeremy Repanich,
Robb Report,
26 July 2025
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From being the face of a labor action against Hooters as a teen to filming on The Hills years before her own reality TV breakthrough on Vanderpump Rules to partying with Paris Hilton at Les Deux and dating John Mayer, Scheana Shay has wormed her way into every potential site of 2000s nostalgia.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
23 July 2025
Verb
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One of the 50 boys starts convulsing on the road, and as Jonsson and Hoffman’s characters walk backwards to see what happens, soldiers have their guns trained on his twitching body before a gunshot rings out.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
25 July 2025
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This is why after a snake is killed, its body will still twitch and move around, and why its head can still bite.—
Brayden Garcia,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
22 July 2025
Verb
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Still, Windows 11, the figure Microsoft is keenest to see grow is creeping up and is now at 59.9%, almost exactly three fifths, then.—
David Phelan,
Forbes.com,
8 Aug. 2025
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Raven motifs crept into the production design at every turn: Nevermore Academy’s front gates, Principal Weems’ office, roof tiles that resembled feathers, and the school’s mascot.—
Daron James,
IndieWire,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Frances Haugen, a Facebook product manager turned whistleblower, snuck over ten thousand pages of documents and internal messages out of Facebook headquarters.—
Noah Giansiracusa,
Time,
7 Aug. 2025
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Throughout Season 1, fans speculated that Tyler may be a potential love interest for Wednesday Addams, showing early interest in her and even sneaking out of Nevermore together.—
Vincent Perella,
IndieWire,
6 Aug. 2025
Verb
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From there, Young tossed an accurate ball to Sanders for a would-be first down and it was dropped by the second-year tight end, who has put together an otherwise excellent camp.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
16 Aug. 2025
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Teams of two will compete by tossing bacon from skillet to skillet.—
Andy Humbles,
The Tennessean,
15 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Looking like a wild morning glory, field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) is a vigorous perennial vine that often snakes its way up, over, and through your garden plants.—
Steve Bender,
Southern Living,
9 Aug. 2025
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Telltale details of artifice surface in these larger gallery images: Backdrops emerge more prominently, noticeable seams and threads materialize in artificial arrangements, a layer of dust coats a fake bamboo plant, a rubber hose snakes into a seemingly untrammeled landscape.—
Lisa Wong Macabasco,
Vogue,
4 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Wriggle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wriggle. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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