jiggle
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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jiggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jiggled,
past participle, past
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jiggling
present participle
noun
-
jiggles
plural
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
jigglesimple
-
jigglessimple
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have jiggledperfect
-
has jiggledperfect
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am jigglingprogressive
-
are jigglingprogressive
-
is jigglingprogressive
-
have been jigglingperfect progressive
-
has been jigglingperfect progressive
Past
-
jiggledsimple
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had jiggledperfect
-
was jigglingprogressive
-
were jigglingprogressive
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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
I’ve spent entire evenings Googling ranch dressing varietals, decoding the semiotics of suburban chain restaurant menus, pondering the subtle thrill of foods that jiggle.
From Salon ● May 26, 2025
The Lego conceit proves an ideal format for visually embodying these tunes, as bouncing abstract creations spring and jiggle to musical life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2024
I walk back to the Gardens of Glenwood and I try to move in a very careful way because I don't want to jiggle the ladybugs.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
As your brain jiggles and twists, neurons—the long, cordlike cells that transmit signals in the brain—stretch and fray.
From Slate ● Mar. 17, 2024
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
Noise often jiggles the underlying data, but the topology remains the same—revealing robust features of the system.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 26, 2022
Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. Bars are done when the curd is darker, jiggles only slightly, and touching it leaves a light indent.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 12, 2022
Her eyes staring straight ahead, Helen jiggles her arm so I know the brush was intentional.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
"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
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
Criminals prefer not to draw attention to themselves, so devices that simply sound alarms if a door is jiggled can be effective deterrents.
From Washington Post ● May 20, 2021
The numbers on the slate jiggled but he gulped and began to work.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
It is a difficult and intricate process where laser light is shone at the atoms to stop them jiggling about so much.
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2024
Which is why there’s so much debate about whether Ralph Yarl was jiggling the knob or whatever.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2023
“Nonresidents are walking up and down the hallways jiggling their doors trying to get in,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2023
The feathered and fidgety duo settled into their new pens, their vibrant red wattles jiggling with every step, a stark contrast to their icy pale faces.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2022
Little bits of peaches or pineapple are mired within it, suspended in red jiggling transparency.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
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.
