wag
verb (used with object)
to move from side to side, forward and backward, or up and down, especially rapidly and repeatedly.
wag
American
[wag]
/ wæg /
verb (used with object)
-
wags,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wagged,
past participle, past
-
wagging
present participle
-
to move from side to side, forward and backward, or up and down, especially rapidly and repeatedly.
a dog wagging its tail.
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to move (the tongue), as in idle or indiscreet chatter.
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to shake (a finger) at someone, as in reproach.
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to move or nod (the head).
verb (used without object)
-
wags,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wagged,
past participle, past
-
wagging
present participle
-
to be moved from side to side or one way and the other, especially rapidly and repeatedly, as the head or the tail.
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to move constantly, especially in idle or indiscreet chatter.
Her behavior caused local tongues to wag.
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to get along; travel; proceed.
Let the world wag how it will.
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to totter or sway.
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British Slang. to play truant; play hooky.
noun
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wags
plural
-
the act of wagging.
a friendly wag of the tail.
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a person given to droll, roguish, or mischievous humor; wit.
wag
1
British
/ wæɡ /
verb
-
to move or cause to move rapidly and repeatedly from side to side or up and down
-
to move (the tongue) or (of the tongue) to be moved rapidly in talking, esp in idle gossip
-
to move (the finger) or (of the finger) to be moved from side to side, in or as in admonition
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slang to play truant (esp in the phrase wag it )
noun
WAG
2
British
abbreviation
Wag
3
British
/ wæɡ /
noun
wag
4
British
/ wæɡ /
noun
wag
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wagsimple
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wagssimple
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have waggedperfect
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has waggedperfect
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am waggingprogressive
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are waggingprogressive
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is waggingprogressive
-
have been waggingperfect progressive
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has been waggingperfect progressive
Past
-
waggedsimple
-
had waggedperfect
-
was waggingprogressive
-
were waggingprogressive
-
had been waggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wag
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English waggen, from Old Norse vaga “to sway,” or from vagga “cradle”
Explanation
A wag is a quick, back-and-forth movement. A scolding teacher might give you an irritated wag of a finger, while a happy dog will give you a cheerful tail wag. Animals and people alike use wags to communicate various emotions, and when they do, they wag. Dogs are known to wag their tails in happiness or to express friendliness, but a very slow tail wag can mean a dog is uncertain or is trying to calm itself. Wag is at least partly rooted in the Old English wagian, "move backwards and forwards."
Vocabulary lists containing wag
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:
“Obsession” has ideas about our age of instant gratification and parasocial idealization fueled by social media that the film never manages to do anything more than wag a finger at.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2026
To paraphrase some anonymous wag, never let a cross-cultural calamity go to waste.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
You can’t wag your finger at people and say, “You should be going to the theater and having this theatrical experience,” but you feel it rising right now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2025
“I tell clients, ‘Don’t let the tax tail wag the dog.’”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 26, 2025
The easy answer is to say yes and wag a finger at those who are behaving badly.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
In the meantime, Biles seems content to embrace a position on the sidelines—both as an NFL WAG and a supporter of gymnastics around the globe.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2025
But to do that, she knew she had to shed her other personas – the Spice Girl, the WAG.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2025
The wives and girlfriends of soccer players — commonly known in Britain by the acronym WAG — have long been tabloid fodder, and the trial offered a rare glimpse into their private messages.
From New York Times ● Oct. 4, 2022
The battle has been dubbed the "WAGatha Christie" case, a reference to the "WAG" moniker given to the glamorous group of footballers' wives and girlfriends and Rooney's detective work.
From Reuters ● May 10, 2022
Some Tory WAG among the Hanging Committee may have taken this juxtaposition for wit: our readers will adopt a different view.
From Old Friends, Epistolary Parody by Andrew Lang
Wag Hotels, which has locations in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a consumer protection lawsuit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025
About 46 people died in the town of Yechila in Tigray, while six died in the neighbouring Amhara region of Wag Hemra, because of food shortages, the officials said.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2023
You’ll also receive a complimentary month of Wag!
From New York Times ● May 15, 2023
That means Uber is subject to the law while pet-sitting service Wag, which has been called "Uber for dogs," is not.
From Reuters ● Mar. 17, 2023
“I told you so!” exclaimed Mrs Wag, when her spouse related the morning’s adventure.
From Tales from Blackwood, Volume 7 by Herbert Willis
But in terms of how it affects the creative work, it becomes a slippery slope if that’s the tail that wags the dog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
“Obsession,” on the other hand, wags its finger at projecting a fantasy onto your crush.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
Kabawat exclaims in approval as another, Ghufran, wags her finger for emphasis: "We either occupy a space where we hold all the decision-making power, or we don't want to be in that space at all."
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026
Wall Street wags say bigger investment managers will do worse, but Blackstone’s 2025 investment performance was pretty good.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
Ziggy is at her heels, and when he sees me, he wags his tail.
From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks
Trusty wagged a finger and sprinted to celebrate with the U.S. bench.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
He is also now teammates with Gerrit Cole, the Yankees pitcher who famously wagged his finger in annoyance at then-Seattle Mariners rookie Caballero during a June 2023 game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2025
The 20-year-old American wound up breaking there with a forehand winner down the line and she wagged her fingers to request louder support from the fans, and they gave it to her.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
Dr Williams said Pumpkin, despite everything, still "wagged his tail" when he saw her.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2024
She wagged her tail so hard that it whacked the admiral repeatedly on the side of his leg.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
The Pomeranian munchkins in Munchkinland skitter around, sniffing wagging butts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The cinematic commercial got tongues wagging online last week and capped a crazy run of lengthy, star-studded videos dropping ahead of the Fifa Men's World Cup.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
In a sense, it is like the tail wagging the dog.
From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026
He played doubles with Emma Raducanu at last year's US Open, setting tongues wagging, but the British player has insisted they are "just good friends".
From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026
“Oh, just call me Ray,” he says, scooping up CPU, who continues wagging her hind end as he holds her in the air.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
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.
