wriggle

1
as in to squirm
to make jerky or restless movements a toddler wriggling in his seat all throughout the church service

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2
as in to crawl
to move slowly with the body close to the ground a worm slowly wriggled across the sidewalk

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3
as in to worm
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

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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 wriggle Defense & National Security The Big Story Will Putin ‘wriggle out’ of Zelensky meeting? Colin Meyn, The Hill, 21 Aug. 2025 And, of course, finding anything wriggling around in your box of cereal or cornmeal is definitely upsetting. Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 19 Aug. 2025 On an island in the middle of the Florida Everglades, Taylor Stanberry — mostly nocturnal in the summer catching Burmese pythons — uncovered a wriggling nest of 30 baby pythons. Miami Herald, 15 Aug. 2025 Elanga looked very decent against Atletico, wriggling down the right with blistering pace. George Caulkin, New York Times, 10 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for wriggle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wriggle
Verb
  • Still, Sabbath sounded amazing, the band’s distinctive vibe of limitless cosmic encumbrance, of Man squirming under the thumb of Fate, God, madness—the essential heavy-metal vision—somehow magnified by the venerable wobbliness of its playing.
    James Parker, The Atlantic, 12 Sep. 2025
  • But the Rockies, as is their wont, made the Padres squirm, belting 14 hits, including a solo home run by Mickey Moniak in the ninth off Robert Suarez.
    Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 7 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • There’s tunnels to crawl through, regular live performances from Quixotic that synchronize with the experience, and a functioning 240-seat theater that plans to host film festivals.
    Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2025
  • Some coast with healthy double-digit conversion rates, while others crawl along at 5% or 6%.
    Jon Stojan, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • But Donaggio prefers to worm his way into your brain — and into the deepest pit of fears in your stomach.
    David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Last month, hackers wormed their way into Tea and accessed sensitive user data; 70,000 user images and more than 1 million private messages reportedly were leaked, including communications about abortions, users’ driver’s-license photos, and phone numbers that had been shared in private messages.
    Albert Fox Cahn, The Atlantic, 11 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Any dairy farmer can tell you that biting flies are a pestilent scourge for cattle herds, which is why one so often sees cows throwing their heads, stamping their feet, flicking their tails, and twitching their skin—desperately trying to shake off the nasty creatures.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 18 Sep. 2025
  • Prior to the 2024 incident, Mangione reportedly shared information on Reddit about a number of health issues, including struggles with back pain, brain fog, and twitching leg muscles.
    Olivia-Anne Cleary, Time, 16 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The massive cuts to the program remain to be seen as prices continue to creep ever higher for beneficiaries.
    Suzanne Blake, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Coachella hasn’t sold out since 2023, despite its release dates creeping earlier in the calendar each year.
    Arielle Gordon, Pitchfork, 16 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Andrés Giménez was put on earth to cause misery to major league hitters looking to sneak ground balls through the infield.
    Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Sep. 2025
  • Her previous instructor, Ramon Morones, used to sneak her into folklorico classes at San Jose City College.
    Iris Sanchez, Mercury News, 16 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Mash it up, smear it on toast, toss it in a salad, or eat it straight.
    Claire Bugos, Verywell Health, 17 Sep. 2025
  • Judge tosses two murder charges related to acts of terrorism against Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO last year.
    Amy Feldman, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Lines of hundreds of guests snaked around the inside of the department store (which takes up an entire city block in Manhattan), with onlookers snapping photos quizzically.
    Anika Reed, USA Today, 13 Sep. 2025
  • The Wild Flint The Flint snakes down Georgia, a safe distance from I-85 and I-75, before joining the Chattahoochee River in Lake Seminole and cutting across the Florida Panhandle as the Apalachicola River.
    David Hanson, Southern Living, 13 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Wriggle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wriggle. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.

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