jiggle
Americanverb (used with or without object)
-
jiggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jiggled,
past participle, past
-
jiggling
present participle
noun
-
jiggles
plural
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:
Should such a particle knock into one of the helium-3 atoms, it would make them all jiggle.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
"It's this superconducting gel that we're sort of seeing jiggle," von Hoegen says.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 17, 2026
More than 50 different songs appear, sometimes impatiently cast aside by Mr. Luhrmann so he can jiggle and rotate his kaleidoscope again.
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
That thing in my brain started to jiggle loose a little bit more.
From "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore
“We love you so much my sweet jiggles and we are praying with all we’ve got,” “Drag Race” staple Michelle Visage commented.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
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
He jiggles his marker in his fingers and mumbles words that rhyme with “middle,” and somehow that leads him to bring his pen down on Vienna.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
"There was an old lady who swallowed a spider that wriggled, and jiggled and tickled inside her..."
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2023
She beamed even brighter and — why not, with so much time on her hands? — jiggled her tambourine.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 1, 2022
He jiggled the door handle to an office that he believed belonged to Pelosi, but it was locked.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 2022
In a little, wood-paneled room above the pier’s carousel, Jim Harris jiggled a pair of red dice in a loose fist and opened it onto his desk.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2021
She had jiggled the door just so to unlock it—a little trick she knew—and jDios mio!
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Softening rather than stiffening when moving through space requires embracing your body’s natural sway and tiny micro-movements, like an ankle wobbling or knee jiggling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Common triggers were leg, hand or foot movements - jiggling thighs, twitchy fingers and shuffling shoes.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 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
When Beau fussed, they took turns jiggling him on their knees.
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.
