1
as in dragged
to move or act slowly
even though the hurricane was fast approaching, federal and local politicians wasted precious time diddling
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cheated
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
an unscrupulous Broadway producer diddles little old ladies by persuading them to invest in a surefire flop
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for diddled
Verb
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The beat stood out in part because expectations had been so low after a stalling labor market grew more dire as the year dragged on.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
11 Feb. 2026 -
During her arrest in December, security forces beat the activist repeatedly and dragged her by the hair, tearing sections of her scalp, and continued to beat her in the transport vehicle, the Nobel Committee said in a statement issued earlier Wednesday.—
Jomana Karadsheh,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
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McMann hunted, but never cheated, for offence.—
Joshua Kloke,
New York Times,
4 Feb. 2026
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Experts say such scam operations in Cambodia and elsewhere have cheated people around the world out of billions of dollars and tricked people from many countries to work in them under slave-like conditions.—
Sakchai Lalit,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Votes in the House were delayed from Tuesday afternoon to the evening as leadership sought to convince nearly half a dozen GOP holdouts to vote for the measure.—
Rachel Schilke,
The Washington Examiner,
11 Feb. 2026
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So with official jobs data due out on Wednesday, delayed by several days because of the brief partial government shutdown, analysts say stocks could go even lower on bad news — or even on news that looks too good.—
John Towfighi,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
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His attacker, the man in black, was hustled off the stage.—
Anderson Cooper,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2026
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As the lights came up, Taylor had already been hustled out, as had Arnaud.—
Eve Batey,
Vanity Fair,
7 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Back in the Mexico City bar, as the game resumed and fans turned their attention back to the field, the excitement lingered.—
Martin Silva Rey,
Fortune,
10 Feb. 2026
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The emotions of Sunday's downhill race lingered over Tuesday's competition.—
Becky Sullivan,
NPR,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In an ecosystem squeezed by the brutal economics of streaming and the continuing struggles of the theatrical model, far too many worthy films go unsold and unseen.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Feb. 2026
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Tens of billions of dollars in corporate loans are likely to default over the next year as companies, especially software and data services firms owned by private equity, get squeezed by the AI threat, Mish said in a Wednesday research note.—
Hugh Son,
CNBC,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The sports journalist, who split from Kelce in 2022, joined forces with Tiffany Haddish, Ben Simmons, and Offset in a Sleeper commercial that poked fun at the aftermath of calling it quits in the spotlight.—
Lara Walsh,
InStyle,
10 Feb. 2026
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Altman and other senior executives took to social media to respond to swipes from Anthropic, which ran Super Bowl ads that poked fun at OpenAI's decision to run ads within ChatGPT.—
Ashley Capoot,Kate Rooney,
CNBC,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Over at Azur on Luminara, the menu reinvents itself every two days to mirror the port of call, like someone plucked the best taverna dishes off the coast and casually plated them in front of you.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
11 Feb. 2026
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This is ideal for decades of sliding across the ice, because bigger mineral grains are more likely to get plucked out by the ice, leaving holes in the surface that could cause unpredictable behavior.—
Andrea Thompson,
Scientific American,
10 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Diddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/diddled. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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