to move from side to side, forward and backward, or up and down, especially rapidly and repeatedly.
a dog wagging its tail.
to move (the tongue), as in idle or indiscreet chatter.
to shake (a finger) at someone, as in reproach.
to move or nod (the head).
to be moved from side to side or one way and the other, especially rapidly and repeatedly, as the head or the tail.
to move constantly, especially in idle or indiscreet chatter.
Her behavior caused local tongues to wag.
to get along; travel; proceed.
Let the world wag how it will.
to totter or sway.
British Slang. to play truant; play hooky.
the act of wagging.
a friendly wag of the tail.
a person given to droll, roguish, or mischievous humor; wit.
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
slang to play truant (esp in the phrase wag it )
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English waggen, from Old Norse vaga “to sway,” or from vagga “cradle”
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."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To paraphrase some anonymous wag, never let a cross-cultural calamity go to waste.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
But strict rules also make the financial tail wag the real economy dog.
From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 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
It was the way he was, he would say; he could not help it, he would say, and his head would wag.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
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
Ms. Rooney’s apparent sleuthing skills led to the case becoming known as the “Wagatha Christie” affair — playing off the WAG acronym and the name of the detective novelist Agatha Christie.
From New York Times ● May 19, 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
Rebekah Vardy is Coleen Rooney’s rival WAG in this current drama and the wife of Jamie Vardy, who plays in the Premier League and was Wayne Rooney’s teammate on England’s national soccer team.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2019
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 Lang, Andrew
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
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
"Wagatha Christie", "Wags at war", the "Wag World Cup".
From BBC ● May 19, 2022
Three places were drawn by "buck" Privates Piatt, Smith and Wise, and Wag.
From History of Ambulance Company Number 139 by Various
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
Just inland from Rosie’s Dog Beach, Franklin Bean, a 10-month-old mini dachshund, greeted passersby with tail wags and belly rolls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
Instead, he posted “Unconditional Surrender” on Truth Social, without any explanation of what that meant, leading some wags in Washington to hope he had just resigned.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2025
Just as we turn into animals when we go up to the line, because that is the only thing which brings us through safely, so we turn into wags and loafers when we are resting.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
Trusty wagged a finger and sprinted to celebrate with the U.S. bench.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Instead, he wagged a finger at the camera lens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
His efforts seemed to have put his side on course to win, but the Brave tailed wagged to pull off a remarkable victory.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2025
As Stone wagged his finger at Milei, an aide tried to interpret the pronouncements into Spanish.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2025
He whined and licked his lips and wagged his tail so hard his butt shook.
From "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart
If a leveraged fund grows large enough, it can start to have a significant impact on the underlying stock to which it is tied, a phenomenon traders refer to as “the tail wagging the dog.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
In a sense, it is like the tail wagging the dog.
From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026
Lisa said Winston now greeted their friends with a wagging tail and waited excitedly at the door for a walk.
From BBC ● May 8, 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
Deb-and-Kiki push past me, swinging little black flute cases, ponytails wagging as they walk.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
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.
