fidgety
Americanadjective
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restless; impatient; uneasy.
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nervously and excessively fussy.
Etymology
Origin of fidgety
Explanation
Someone who's fidgety is jittery, restless, or anxious. It's pretty common to be a little fidgety before a big test or a job interview. A nervous airplane passenger might be fidgety, and a young child on the same flight could be fidgety simply because she's bored and itchy to move around. Fidgety comes from fidget, "move nervously," which in the late 1600s was the fidget, or the fidgets "uneasiness," from a now-obsolete verb, fidge, "move restlessly."
Vocabulary lists containing fidgety
Freak the Mighty
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Out of the Dust
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Patina
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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.
"You have to know him. He's fidgety to begin with," Payton said.
From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 2026
Last year, nonetheless, presented new obstacles — both physically with Vesia’s mechanics, and mentally with the introduction of the pitch clock, forcing Vesia to streamline his fidgety, high-energy presence on the rubber.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2024
There is a pleasing calm to her delivery that stands out in a scene of fidgety hams.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2024
As any percussionist or fidgety pen-tapper can tell you, different materials make different noises when you hit them.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2024
They’re adorable, but sweaty and fidgety, so I take a spot as far away from them as possible.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
