squiggle
Americannoun
-
squiggles
plural
verb (used without object)
-
squiggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
squiggled,
past participle, past
-
squiggling
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
squiggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
squiggled,
past participle, past
-
squiggling
present participle
noun
-
a mark or movement in the form of a wavy line; curlicue
-
an illegible scrawl
verb
-
(intr) to wriggle
-
(intr) to form or draw squiggles
-
(tr) to make into squiggles
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
squigglesimple
-
squigglessimple
-
have squiggledperfect
-
has squiggledperfect
-
am squigglingprogressive
-
are squigglingprogressive
-
is squigglingprogressive
-
have been squigglingperfect progressive
-
has been squigglingperfect progressive
Past
-
squiggledsimple
-
had squiggledperfect
-
was squigglingprogressive
-
were squigglingprogressive
-
had been squigglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of squiggle
Explanation
A squiggle is a curly, looping line, like the squiggle that serves as your signature when you sloppily sign your name. If you can't read someone's writing, you can call it a squiggle or a scrawl. You can also use squiggle to describe decorative accents or drawn designs, like squiggles of paint in modern art or ornamental squiggles in the pattern on your sofa. Squiggle originated in the early 19th century and was initially used a verb derived from wriggle and squirm.
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:
Richards’s signature style is to break down complex behavioral-finance concepts into minimalist line drawings — sometimes just a squiggle — with only a few words.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 16, 2026
"That's what happened here. We had all sort of noticed this fishhook squiggle on the rock. It was pretty prominent because it was really, really deep."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 18, 2024
Grooves in the hillside squiggle down toward a pasture and bike path at its base.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2024
I prefer a sprinkling of salt, a bed of raw onions and cilantro and a squiggle of green salsa.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
Black squiggle tingles curled up my spine and wrapped around my eyes like a silk scarf.
From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
The floor was so grubby that the thought of sitting anywhere on it was nauseating — and regardless, the lanes were now too dark for reading, lit primarily by bright neon stripes and squiggles.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
The off-white form of the rustic terracotta jar, shattered over millenniums and fastidiously reassembled, is elegantly decorated in rich brown and black designs, including bursts of rosettes and abstract squiggles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025
The genus name uncus means “hook” in Latin, after the fishhooklike squiggles on the rock left by the fossils.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 19, 2024
EEGs use small sensors attached to the scalp to measure the brain's electrical signals, producing a long line of up and down squiggles.
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2024
With all of those red lines and squiggles dancing around on my essay, I wasn’t foolish enough to think he meant to tell me anything good.
From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia
The book, compiled between 1967-1968, features Sir Paul McCartney's draft of the famous song alongside poetry and doodles squiggled by the music legend.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2022
Over the course of a profoundly productive journalism career, he was able to translate all those squiggled notes into some of the finest long-form writing The Post has ever published.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 15, 2020
“Here comes one! There’s an aftershock,” she said as the software showed red, blue and green lines that squiggled up and down.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2020
Vegetable-focussed appetizers include marinated shishito and Jimmy Nardello peppers, for layering on crusty toast with thickly squiggled ricotta that’s been whipped until it’s as densely creamy as labneh.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 23, 2018
“What is all this?” the father-Human said, looking at the boxes while he squiggled a stick at the device.
From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth
Some look like earthworms and others are covered in tiny bristles, squiggling about.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2022
Squeeze the chocolate onto the lined baking sheet, swirling or squiggling the lines to make decorative shapes.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2022
The casual-looking moves include a squiggling elbow, a lowering to one knee, fingers tapping the soles of feet.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2022
It's great for squiggling on a slice of pizza or on top of a bowl of fried rice, and its flavor can be found carried into all types of food products.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 18, 2021
Taking infinite care, the BFG unscrewed the top of the glass jar and tipped the squiggling squirming faintly scarlet trogglehumper into the wide end of his long trumpet.
From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl
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.
