jiggle
Americanverb (used with or without object)
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
jigglesimple
-
jigglessimple
-
have jiggledperfect
-
has jiggledperfect
-
am jigglingprogressive
-
are jigglingprogressive
-
is jigglingprogressive
-
have been jigglingperfect progressive
-
has been jigglingperfect progressive
Past
-
jiggledsimple
-
had jiggledperfect
-
was jigglingprogressive
-
were jigglingprogressive
-
had been jigglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jiggle
Explanation
To jiggle is to move very quickly back and forth or up and down. If you ride in a car over bumpy roads holding a bowl of Jello on your lap, you can watch it jiggle until you reach your destination. You might feel your body jiggle when you ride on a galloping horse, and you can also jiggle something, like when you accidentally jiggle a chess board and send the pieces flying. The action of moving in this way is a jiggle. Jiggle comes from jig, "lively dance," and is probably an alteration of the earlier joggle, "move with jerks or small bobs."
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:
"It's this superconducting gel that we're sort of seeing jiggle," von Hoegen says.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 17, 2026
What matters is how fast we deploy digital defenders to jiggle those doorknobs—and tighten them—beforehand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
Some attendees legs jiggle dramatically as they adjust to the board’s movement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
"They don't get paid enough money in my opinion so I am quite happy to jiggle things around so we can support them," she says, adding that she hopes the dispute is resolved soon.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2023
I pop the last four chicken nuggets into the toaster and jiggle the broken lever until it stays in the down position.
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
We used on-set projectors, we’d then add little shakes and jiggles to get that scintillating effect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
If you tweak one, the rest jiggles for a while and then comes back to where it was.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2022
Noise often jiggles the underlying data, but the topology remains the same—revealing robust features of the system.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 26, 2022
In this case, the “something else” the Mandalorian accepts is Calamari Flan, which is an absolutely insane name for a currency, especially one used by squid people, especially one that jiggles when you touch it.
From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2019
I know that when she jiggles her left foot in class, she knows the answer but doesn’t want to raise her hand.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
Kylie Jenner kept rubbing and patting Chalamet’s hand while he nervously jiggled his right leg.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
"There was an old lady who swallowed a spider that wriggled, and jiggled and tickled inside her..."
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2023
He jiggled the door handle to an office that he believed belonged to Pelosi, but it was locked.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 2022
Tran pressed his face against the windows to peer inside and jiggled a door handle to see if it would open.
From Washington Post ● May 14, 2021
Nathan jiggled the handle and opened the door.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
She looks toward the ceiling, jiggling her head slightly, as though she’s doing some mental math regarding the track list.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2026
For Annette Guest, 73 and from Worcester, everyday occurrences like someone jiggling their leg could be enough to prompt a reaction.
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2024
Others joined in: jiggling, dancing and waving to police officers parked nearby.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 24, 2023
Which is why there’s so much debate about whether Ralph Yarl was jiggling the knob or whatever.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2023
Even when I ain’t holding a pencil, my fingers is jiggling it, in my pocket, on the kitchen counter, thumping like drumsticks.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
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.
