1
: violin
2
: a device (such as a slat, rack, or light railing) to keep objects from sliding off a table aboard ship
3
: fiddlesticks
—used as an interjection
4
fiddled; fiddling
ˈfi-dᵊl-iŋ 
ˈfid-liŋ
ˈfid-liŋ
1
: to play on a fiddle
1
: to play (something) on a fiddle
fiddle a tune
3
: to alter or manipulate deceptively for fraudulent gain
accountants fiddling the books—
Stanley Cohen
Stanley CohenSynonyms
Noun
- applesauce [slang]
- balderdash
- baloney
- boloney
- beans
- bilge
- blah
- blah-blah
- blarney
- blather
- blatherskite
- blither
- bosh
- bull [slang]
- bunk
- bunkum
- buncombe
- claptrap
- codswallop [British]
- crapola [slang]
- crock
- drivel
- drool
- fiddle-faddle
- fiddlesticks
- flannel [British]
- flapdoodle
- folderol
- falderal
- folly
- foolishness
- fudge
- garbage
- guff
- hogwash
- hokeypokey
- hokum
- hoodoo
- hooey
- horsefeathers [slang]
- humbug
- humbuggery
- jazz
- malarkey
- malarky
- moonshine
- muck
- nerts [slang]
- nonsense
- nuts
- piffle
- poppycock
- punk
- rot
- rubbish
- senselessness
- silliness
- slush
- stupidity
- taradiddle
- tarradiddle
- tommyrot
- tosh
- trash
- trumpery
- twaddle
Verb
Examples of fiddle in a Sentence
Noun
an expert with the fiddle
arrested for a tax fiddle
Verb
Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
the executive fiddled with a pen as she impatiently waited for the meeting to begin
Recent Examples on the Web
Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
Jigs and reels are played on fiddles, tin whistles, accordions, and bodhráns (traditional drums), and trad dancers often take to the floor.
—Yvonne Gordon, AFAR Media, 31 Jan. 2025
Chelsea Edgar, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2025
Her father was a sharecropper — and later, a knitting mill worker — who played fiddle and gave voice lessons at the local Methodist church.
—Bill Friskics-Warren, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for fiddle 
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Noun
The song opens with an electric guitar line, a propulsive drum beat, and some textured fiddle.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
Jigs and reels are played on fiddles, tin whistles, accordions, and bodhráns (traditional drums), and trad dancers often take to the floor.
—Yvonne Gordon, AFAR Media, 31 Jan. 2025
Verb
Many of the rituals that once brought the community together—the Kiwanis Club Ice Fishing Derby, fiddling contests so explosive that spectators sometimes came to blows—have faded away.
—Chelsea Edgar, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2025
Her father was a sharecropper — and later, a knitting mill worker — who played fiddle and gave voice lessons at the local Methodist church.
—Bill Friskics-Warren, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for fiddle
Dictionary Entries Near fiddle
Cite this Entry
“Fiddle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiddle. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fiddle
1 of 2 noun
fid·dle
ˈfid-ᵊl
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