wangle
Americanverb (used with object)
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wangles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wangled,
past participle, past
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wangling
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
wangles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wangled,
past participle, past
-
wangling
present participle
-
to use contrivance, scheming, or underhand methods to obtain some goal or result.
-
to manipulate something for dishonest ends.
noun
verb
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(tr) to use devious or illicit methods to get or achieve (something) for (oneself or another)
he wangled himself a salary increase
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to manipulate or falsify (a situation, action, etc)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wanglesimple
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wanglessimple
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have wangledperfect
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has wangledperfect
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am wanglingprogressive
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are wanglingprogressive
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is wanglingprogressive
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have been wanglingperfect progressive
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has been wanglingperfect progressive
Past
-
wangledsimple
-
had wangledperfect
-
was wanglingprogressive
-
were wanglingprogressive
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had been wanglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wangle
1810–20; blend of wag (the tongue) and dangle (about someone, i.e., hang around someone, court someone's favor)
Explanation
Wangle means to get something through deception or devious coaxing, like the time you tried to wangle your way into a concert by pretending to be the singer's sister. Wangle, which rhymes with tangle is similar in meaning to manipulate, although wangle has a more informal feel. The word's playful sound hints at its origin — it came into English as slang. In the 1880s it was coined by British printers who used their skills to wangle, or fake, an image to look like something else. That tradition endures today with untrustworthy magazines that wangle photos of celebrities to deceive readers.
Vocabulary lists containing wangle
100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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And Then There Were None
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Stories of Ourselves
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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:
Clearly, the few evolutionary changes the domestic cat has made have been the right ones to wangle their way into people's hearts and homes.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2023
Even when I was filming “Clifford,” I managed to somehow wangle my way into getting onto a flight and going back for three days of Glastonbury, and I was just floating.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021
Once he tried to wangle a legitimate PhD from the University of Manchester.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2020
At six, he got his first library card from the Brooklyn Public Library; he would eventually wangle a second one from the neighbouring borough of Queens, doubling his weekly intake.
From Nature ● Jan. 27, 2020
“Order of Merlin, Second Class, I’d say. First Class, if I can wangle it!”
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
In the days just before World War I, the pair wangles an invitation to a stately castle, hoping to vindicate a cook suspected in the death of an earlier guest there.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 16, 2017
Maura returns to her old house and finds Ali and Sarah preparing for their festival trip, onto which she wangles herself a spot.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 18, 2015
He abandons an academia-bound path, and, despite his “father’s odor among the old guard,” wangles a job offer from a shadowy HQ-linked businessman.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 17, 2015
When Scotty wangles an audience with the all-powerful Bennie in Bennie’s New York office, he arrives armed with a fish that he caught in the East River.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2010
He was always finding out little wangles that he wasn't supposed to see.
From Malcolm Sage, Detective by Herbert George Jenkins
Technically, she wasn’t old enough to work with the horses at the track, but Crump wangled her way in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
Two years before, Caligiuri had wangled an invitation to an exclusive party thrown for George Michael in the Hollywood hills.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2023
When the Spanish-American War erupted, Otis wangled a brigadier general appointment from now-commander in chief McKinley, and returned from the Philippines as a major general.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2022
He wrote op-eds for major newspapers and wangled summonses from presidents to brief them on dealing with the Soviet Union and other world issues.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 22, 2021
Jesse wangled the parts for both from work.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
And well done for wangling a shift at Headingley.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 28, 2020
Still, her stepdad pushed Tiffany, recognising her talent and wangling her first paid gig.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 12, 2020
He made it to Borneo in 1984 by wangling a berth on an expedition to explore the Mulu caves, now one of the island’s tourist attractions.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2018
Mr. Dinkins added more cops on the streets — wangling a tax increase to do so — and more cadets in the police academy, who went on duty only after he left office.
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2017
To me was left the politics and "wangling" of the expedition, while they started out blithely one morning to catch Swazis.
From Adventures in Swaziland The Story of a South African Boer by Owen Rowe O'Neil
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.
