twiddled; twiddling
ˈtwid-liŋ,
ˈtwi-dᵊl-iŋ
1
: to play negligently with something : fiddle
2
: to turn or jounce lightly
twiddles round and round in the water—
J. B. S. Haldane
J. B. S. Haldane
: to rotate lightly or idly
twiddled his pen
Examples of twiddle in a Sentence
Verb
Just twiddle the dial on the radio a bit for better reception.
Twiddle the knob on the telescope until things are in focus.
She twiddled her pen while she talked on the phone.
She twiddled with her pen while she talked on the phone.
Recent Examples on the Web
Cal Revely-Calder, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025
Groundhog Audio claims its tech can match the tone from any song and drop it into a compact pedal at your feet – no knob twiddling necessary.
—Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 20 Oct. 2025
Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 11 July 2025
Crucially, in the new scheme, all inputs and outputs between simulations of different scales must be consistent, leaving fewer dials to twiddle.
—Thomas Lewton, Quanta Magazine, 23 Aug. 2022
See All Example Sentences for twiddle
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Verb
Kingsnorth may be right that Monbiot is a Machine man, intent on twiddling levers to save the world, but, by that standard, so is anyone who makes any green choice at all.
—Cal Revely-Calder, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025
Groundhog Audio claims its tech can match the tone from any song and drop it into a compact pedal at your feet – no knob twiddling necessary.
—Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 20 Oct. 2025
Noun
The way the number two seed twiddles with his racket with a magician’s sleight of hand is mesmerizing.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 11 July 2025
Crucially, in the new scheme, all inputs and outputs between simulations of different scales must be consistent, leaving fewer dials to twiddle.
—Thomas Lewton, Quanta Magazine, 23 Aug. 2022
See All Example Sentences for twiddle
Cite this Entry
“Twiddle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/twiddle. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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