wiggle

American  

[wig-uhl] / ˈwɪg əl /

verb (used without object)

wiggles, present (3rd person singular) wiggled, past participle, past wiggling present participle

1. to move or go with short, quick, irregular movements from side to side.

   The puppies wiggled with delight.

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verb (used with object)

wiggles, present (3rd person singular) wiggled, past participle, past wiggling present participle

1. to cause to wiggle; move quickly and irregularly from side to side.

noun

wiggles plural

1. a wiggling movement or course.

2. a wiggly line.

3. a dish of creamed fish or shellfish and peas.

idioms

1. get a wiggle on, to hurry up; get a move on.

   If you don't get a wiggle on, we'll miss the first act.

wiggle British  

/ ˈwɪɡəl /

verb

1. to move or cause to move with jerky movements, esp from side to side

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noun

1. the act or an instance of wiggling

2. slang to hurry up

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• wiggler
  noun
• wiggly
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• wiggles
  plural

Participles

• wiggling
  present
• wiggled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• wiggle
  simple
• wiggles
  simple
• have wiggled
  perfect
• has wiggled
  perfect
• am wiggling
  progressive
• are wiggling
  progressive
• is wiggling
  progressive
• have been wiggling
  perfect progressive
• has been wiggling
  perfect progressive

Past

• wiggled
  simple
• had wiggled
  perfect
• was wiggling
  progressive
• were wiggling
  progressive
• had been wiggling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will wiggle
  simple
• will have wiggled
  perfect
• will be wiggling
  progressive
• will have been wiggling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of wiggle

1175–1225; Middle English wiglen; akin to Old English wegan to move, wēg motion, wicga insect; compare Norwegian vigla to totter, frequentative of vigga to rock oneself, Dutch, Low German wiggelen

Explanation

To wiggle is to move something back and forth. When you dance, you probably wiggle your hips. If you wiggle them too much, your mother might wiggle a finger at you and say "Settle down!" Young children wiggle loose teeth until they fall out. Sometimes, if your mom is trying to hold your little brother still, he'll wiggle out of her grasp and run off. Have you ever come across a rule that you don't want to follow? If so, you've probably tried to find some wiggle room, or little ways you could get out of doing what you don't want to do.

Example Sentences

Even the plans Burnham has hinted at so far could easily exceed the available wiggle room.

From BBC • Jun. 23, 2026

But he left himself a lot of wiggle room.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 17, 2026

But on the weeks when I have a little more energy — a little more calendar wiggle room, a little more curiosity — I try to widen my grocery orbit.

From Salon • May 22, 2026

Tiltil authorities concede that they have little wiggle room.

From Barron's • May 13, 2026

Actually, there wasn’t a kid in the Woodrow Wilson School who didn’t wiggle or twitch or tie knots in his hair or something.

From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson