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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Recent Examples of wriggly
Medieval Christians looked at the very same phenomenon and imagined it as a reflection of divine will, the transformation of a wriggly worm into a flying jewel an earthly reminder of the transfiguration of Jesus to Christ.
—
Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wriggly
Adjective
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At the edges of the channel, near the walls, Rout and Lim’s team saw rapid fluctuations of molecules — those were the wiggly nucleoporins.—
Yasemin Saplakoglu,
Quanta Magazine,
9 Mar. 2026
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The team then carefully lowers Caterpillar into the water, where the mother rushes to scoop her pup up as the two share a wiggly embrace.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
13 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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One of them is a squirmy, intensely relatable dark comedy about the escalating horrors of planning a wedding.—
Hannah Jocelyn,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
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Conductors often fetishize the opening bars of this opera, their squirmy alternation of silence and piquant dissonance.—
Justin Davidson,
Vulture,
11 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Even Jason notices the guests are fidgety.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
24 Feb. 2026
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The two go toe-to-toe in power and precision, but the Breville’s intuitive assembly is a massive improvement on the Cuisinart’s notoriously fidgety and fussy locking mechanisms.—
Noah Kaufman,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Robinson is a twitchy slot receiver with refined routes and quick feet in and out of his breaks.—
Daniel Popper,
New York Times,
9 Mar. 2026
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Keith and Chantal Tkachuk were in the stands, where Keith had noticed his sons were looking twitchy just before puck drop.—
Becky Sullivan,
NPR,
18 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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This small meal should be low in fiber and fat, as these can cause an upset stomach.—
Dr. Sarah Kinsella,
Boston Herald,
5 Apr. 2026
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In his March Madness brackets, Obama has the Arizona Wildcats men defeating the Duke Blue Devils (who have already been upset) and UConn's women's team winning it all.—
Jay Stahl,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Democrats are worried that our troops eat too well.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
2 Apr. 2026
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But, for now, some leaders remain worried about what happens next.—
Kacen Bayless,
Kansas City Star,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Wriggly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wriggly. Accessed 7 Apr. 2026.
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