wriggled; wriggling
ˈri-g(ə-)liŋ 
1
: to move the body or a bodily part to and fro with short writhing motions like a worm : squirm
2
: to move or advance by twisting and turning
3
: to extricate or insinuate oneself or reach a goal as if by wriggling
1
: to cause to move in short quick contortions
2
: to introduce, insinuate, or bring into a state or place by or as if by wriggling
1
: a short or quick writhing motion or contortion
2
: a formation or marking of sinuous design
Synonyms
Examples of wriggle in a Sentence
Verb
The children wriggled and squirmed in their chairs.
She managed to wriggle free of her ropes.
They wriggled out of their wet clothes.
I had trouble getting the wriggling fish off my hook.
The snake wriggled across the path and went underneath a bush.
He was able to wriggle through the narrow opening.
Recent Examples on the Web
Tim Spiers, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
The ink shifted and wriggled again, forming new words from the old: NO OBSERVERS.
—EW.com, 14 Jan. 2025
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
Fire and water have hogged the spotlight for too long; smoke has its own glamour, its own deathless wriggle.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 2 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for wriggle 
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Verb
And then in the 90th minute, Alvarez beautifully wriggled past keeper Matej Kovar to score a memorable winner.
—Tim Spiers, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
The ink shifted and wriggled again, forming new words from the old: NO OBSERVERS.
—EW.com, 14 Jan. 2025
Noun
In the world of Eraserhead, the first feature of David Lynch, everything is emphatically not fine: Strange industrial noises fill the soundtrack, all efforts at human connection go awry, and worst of all, our hero has fathered a disgusting inhuman creature the wriggles and oozes all over its crib.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
Fire and water have hogged the spotlight for too long; smoke has its own glamour, its own deathless wriggle.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 2 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for wriggle
Dictionary Entries Near wriggle
Cite this Entry
“Wriggle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wriggle. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
wriggle
2 of 2 noun1
: a short or quick twisting motion
2
: a formation or marking having a winding or twisting course or appearance
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