1
as in squirming
to make jerky or restless movements
a toddler wriggling in his seat all throughout the church service
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
3
as in infiltrating
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in writhing
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of wriggling
Rachael O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
Anybody who has watched children fight knows that weeping will start only after the victim has given up struggling and wriggling and accepted defeat.
—Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
According to Bed Bug Biology and Behavior, the bed bugs wriggling under hotel sheets the world over right now descend from cave-dwelling insects that originally drank bat blood.
—Katie Nixon, Nashville Tennessean, 23 Sep. 2025
Edible insects in the form of wriggling maggots or hairy caterpillars are both delicacy and staple in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a central African nation of nearly 120 million people.
—Emmet Livingstone, NPR, 20 Sep. 2025
Small wonder that although the statue is expressive of Jordan’s signature, physically sprawling move, one leg is as stiff as a pharaoh’s, his feet are weirdly flat, his jersey is pooched as if a possum were wriggling inside it.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 30 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
Noun
The camera then switches from the chaos of the puppy, to the kitten—who is sitting in a relaxed position, blinking slowly, and staring almost disdainfully at the wriggling puppy.
—Rachael O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
Anybody who has watched children fight knows that weeping will start only after the victim has given up struggling and wriggling and accepted defeat.
—Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
According to Bed Bug Biology and Behavior, the bed bugs wriggling under hotel sheets the world over right now descend from cave-dwelling insects that originally drank bat blood.
—Katie Nixon, Nashville Tennessean, 23 Sep. 2025
Edible insects in the form of wriggling maggots or hairy caterpillars are both delicacy and staple in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a central African nation of nearly 120 million people.
—Emmet Livingstone, NPR, 20 Sep. 2025
Small wonder that although the statue is expressive of Jordan’s signature, physically sprawling move, one leg is as stiff as a pharaoh’s, his feet are weirdly flat, his jersey is pooched as if a possum were wriggling inside it.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 30 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wriggling
Verb
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What happens next in the final minutes of The Vanishing will leave viewers squirming in their seats and hoping against hope for our vulnerable leading man.—
Steven Thrash,
Entertainment Weekly,
19 Oct. 2025
-
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
Verb
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Tropical Storm Melissa is crawling through the Caribbean Sea, threatening to unleash life-threatening flooding and mudslides across parts of the region later this week.—
Briana Waxman,
CNN Money,
22 Oct. 2025
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These flat robots have multiple modes of movement, capable of jumping or crawling at multiple speeds.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Billitier did have a hell of a story to tell about his decades of undercover work for the FBI, including several years infiltrating a Colombian drug ring in Texas.—
Steve Belanger,
HollywoodReporter,
23 Oct. 2025
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Even with fewer boaters on the water, the threat of aquatic nuisance species infiltrating your favorite lake remains.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Throughout the writhing and the screaming, Julia’s fortitude wears down a defiant Davina, whose history with Lovat feeds the moment.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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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
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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
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That combination of high winds and creeping progress makes Melissa both unusual and unusually dangerous.—
Sara Sneath,
The Atlantic,
28 Oct. 2025
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The chill is creeping in and the flowers that once filled your summer containers may be spent, but don't put those pots away just yet.—
Miranda Crowell,
Better Homes & Gardens,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Here is Carreras profiting from that exact ploy while playing for Benfica against Barcelona in the Champions League last season, sneaking forward on the far side before receiving the switch and hammering a low cross into striker Vangelis Pavlidis to score.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
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Eileen’s determination to face down the boys and be accepted for her full self or Hedda sneaking around and steering everyone’s fates behind the scenes?—
Amy Nicholson,
Twin Cities,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
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For those deep in the Apple ecosystem who want headphones that just work without all the fiddling, the Beats Solo 4 make sense with a 25% discount.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
13 Oct. 2025
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Now scientists have found that, with a little fiddling, the feathers can be adjusted to turn flashes of light into laser beams.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
5 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Wriggling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wriggling. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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