wiggle
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a wiggling movement or course.
-
a wiggly line.
-
a dish of creamed fish or shellfish and peas.
idioms
verb
noun
-
the act or an instance of wiggling
-
slang to hurry up
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wigglesimple
-
wigglessimple
-
have wiggledperfect
-
has wiggledperfect
-
am wigglingprogressive
-
are wigglingprogressive
-
is wigglingprogressive
-
have been wigglingperfect progressive
-
has been wigglingperfect progressive
Past
-
wiggledsimple
-
had wiggledperfect
-
was wigglingprogressive
-
were wigglingprogressive
-
had been wigglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wiggle
1175–1225; Middle English wiglen; akin to Old English wegan to move, wēg motion, wicga insect; compare Norwegian vigla to totter, frequentative of vigga to rock oneself, Dutch, Low German wiggelen
Explanation
To wiggle is to move something back and forth. When you dance, you probably wiggle your hips. If you wiggle them too much, your mother might wiggle a finger at you and say "Settle down!" Young children wiggle loose teeth until they fall out. Sometimes, if your mom is trying to hold your little brother still, he'll wiggle out of her grasp and run off. Have you ever come across a rule that you don't want to follow? If so, you've probably tried to find some wiggle room, or little ways you could get out of doing what you don't want to do.
Vocabulary lists containing wiggle
Shiloh
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"Modern Automotive Technology," Vocabulary from Section 3
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"How Coach Told Me I Didn't Make the Cut" and "Bionics"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Burnham has little wiggle room to meaningfully spend or borrow more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Even the plans Burnham has hinted at so far could easily exceed the available wiggle room.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
But he left himself a lot of wiggle room.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
But on the weeks when I have a little more energy — a little more calendar wiggle room, a little more curiosity — I try to widen my grocery orbit.
From Salon ● May 22, 2026
“This Little Piggy Went to Market” is another wiggle with which you may be familiar.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
In a normal situation the jet stream would flow west to east across the Atlantic with weather systems being created by minor wiggles along it.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
"To report out their temperature measurements, we designed a special computer instruction that encodes a value, such as the measured temperature, in the wiggles of a little dance the robot performs," says Blaauw.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 6, 2026
“If you look at a video of a real baby primate, they have the exact same wiggles and imperfections,” says the filmmaker.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025
Rather than set in stone, this race wiggles like Jello.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2024
Then she grins and wiggles a paper bag at me.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
To be sure, American consumers have wiggled out of tight spots before, powering the U.S. economy through decades-high inflation spikes, a pandemic, and armed conflicts.
From Barron's ● May 28, 2026
Tesla showed off its Optimus robot, which wiggled its lifelike fingers to the crowd.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025
“She immediately walked over to me and wiggled around like goldens do,” Koerner said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2025
While Gates wiggled his hips after nailing doubles, and was backed by chants of 'USA, USA', his opponent faced jeers and looked increasingly despondent as the match progressed.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2024
Troyka wiggled his fingers around in an idiotic imitation of pulling strings.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
Maybe wiggling about a bit will throw off the kicker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
“Nooo,” comes a shout from the back of the room, a solo red paddle wiggling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
You can bet that most Americans, meanwhile, will be wiggling their hips to “Dákiti.”
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2025
When Noland awoke from the surgery which installed the device, he said he was initially able to control a cursor on a screen by thinking about wiggling his fingers.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2025
Mr. Morales was still wiggling his finger at me.
From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
