as in twitching
to make jerky or restless movements
the baby wiggled in her sleep
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Recent Examples of wiggling
Spencer took out his phone and played a recording of his daughter telling the wiggling story.
—
John Kenney, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
Dakar captures their tractor turning over the earth and storks swooping down for wiggling worms to feed their young.
—Alissa Simon, Variety, 4 Feb. 2026
The high-protein hype has reached a fever pitch, and Parmesan cheese is wiggling its way into the cultural conversation.
—Michele Ross, SELF, 20 Jan. 2026
Laughing and wiggling her body, Fiona begins to roll over onto her stomach, ending up closer to Huckleberry.
—Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
After that failed, with the student wiggling out of the coat and hitting, kicking and trying to bite the teacher, the teacher said, the school security guard returned to the van with tube socks.
—Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer, 14 Nov. 2025
Pressurizing the actuator gets you one single actuation, but to make the actuator wiggle (wiggling being an absolutely necessary skill for any robot), the gas has to be cyclically released.
—IEEE Spectrum, 14 Nov. 2025
Parents and kids will encounter wiggling, stretching, and breathing exercises in each episode, giving your child that consistent routine their bodies need to sleep well, night after night.
—Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 29 Oct. 2025
That led to him extending both hands and wiggling them in a wave-type motion.
—Jesse Newell, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
John Kenney, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
Dakar captures their tractor turning over the earth and storks swooping down for wiggling worms to feed their young.
—Alissa Simon, Variety, 4 Feb. 2026
The high-protein hype has reached a fever pitch, and Parmesan cheese is wiggling its way into the cultural conversation.
—Michele Ross, SELF, 20 Jan. 2026
Laughing and wiggling her body, Fiona begins to roll over onto her stomach, ending up closer to Huckleberry.
—Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
After that failed, with the student wiggling out of the coat and hitting, kicking and trying to bite the teacher, the teacher said, the school security guard returned to the van with tube socks.
—Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer, 14 Nov. 2025
Pressurizing the actuator gets you one single actuation, but to make the actuator wiggle (wiggling being an absolutely necessary skill for any robot), the gas has to be cyclically released.
—IEEE Spectrum, 14 Nov. 2025
Parents and kids will encounter wiggling, stretching, and breathing exercises in each episode, giving your child that consistent routine their bodies need to sleep well, night after night.
—Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 29 Oct. 2025
That led to him extending both hands and wiggling them in a wave-type motion.
—Jesse Newell, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wiggling
Verb
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Curry’s body began convulsing and twitching with increasing severity, consistent with him sustaining a traumatic brain injury from being punched in the face, documents state.—
Deborah Laverty,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Mar. 2026
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Afternoon Ben Thanh Market is Hồ Chí Minh’s biggest market – a vast maze of 1,500 stalls selling everything from still-twitching fish to electronics and souvenirs.—
Tamara Hinson,
Condé Nast Traveler,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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As the court moved to watch the KSTU-TV segment, Tyler Robinson appeared to begin fidgeting, with one of his hands moving and rubbing his fingers back and forth.—
Stepheny Price , Sarah Rumpf-Whitten , Michael Ruiz,
FOXNews.com,
17 Apr. 2026
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The design was inspired by the hair-tearing boredom of COVID lockdown-era remote work, a time in which Knafs founder Ben Petersen maintained sanity during Zoom calls by fidgeting around with pocket knives and doodling pictures.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The veterans, of course, are terrific with one later episode set on a plane that finds Mulligan in top squirming form.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
16 Apr. 2026
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Like him, Rue is squirming under Laurie’s thumb, anxious to get out.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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After 58 years of tossing the dough, piling on the sausage and wheeling the pizza cutter across a landscape of mozzarella, Frank Serio has worked his last shift.—
Donna Vickroy,
Chicago Tribune,
1 May 2026
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Early in the movie during a survey of a starry event Miranda is attending, stylist Law Roach and Chicken Shop Date host Amelia Dimoldenberg are seen tossing bon mots at fellow fabulous guests.—
Jack Smart,
PEOPLE,
1 May 2026
Verb
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Pull the tick out gently, without jerking or ripping.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Tony Fauci was not just jerking the country around.—
David Blumenthal,
Fortune,
24 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Footage from the scene shows the group obeying police instructions when a plain clothes officer grabbed Salman’s hand, twisting it and causing a fracture in her wrist.—
Oren Liebermann,
CNN Money,
28 Apr. 2026
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Talk to more than a dozen people at varying levels of involvement with the movie’s long and twisting journey to the screen, however, and a kind of dual narrative emerges.—
Chris Lee,
Vulture,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But none of these tracks really explore their ideas as much as just fiddling in place, with any initial energy fizzling out almost immediately.—
Sam Goldner,
Pitchfork,
9 Mar. 2026
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But in private, Arthur advises her to exercise a little more discretion in her, um, fiddling.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
25 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Wiggling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wiggling. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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