wiggle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
wiggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wiggled,
past participle, past
-
wiggling
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
wiggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wiggled,
past participle, past
-
wiggling
present participle
noun
-
wiggles
plural
-
a wiggling movement or course.
-
a wiggly line.
-
a dish of creamed fish or shellfish and peas.
idioms
verb
noun
-
the act or an instance of wiggling
-
slang to hurry up
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wigglesimple
-
wigglessimple
-
have wiggledperfect
-
has wiggledperfect
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am wigglingprogressive
-
are wigglingprogressive
-
is wigglingprogressive
-
have been wigglingperfect progressive
-
has been wigglingperfect progressive
Past
-
wiggledsimple
-
had wiggledperfect
-
was wigglingprogressive
-
were wigglingprogressive
-
had been wigglingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing wiggle
Shiloh
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"Modern Automotive Technology," Vocabulary from Section 3
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"How Coach Told Me I Didn't Make the Cut" and "Bionics"
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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:
The problem is parents don’t have a lot of wiggle room on the matter, said Julie Margetta Morgan, the president of the Century Foundation.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026
In a bid to appease countries such as Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, her executive looks set to grant companies extra wiggle room.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Even the plans Burnham has hinted at so far could easily exceed the available wiggle room.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
Yet while such deals give Stellantis some wiggle room for now, it could still result in creating more competition for the automaker in a tightening global car market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
If he tried to get Jordan in trouble, Jordan would wiggle out of it, claiming it was an accident.
From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers
Occasionally the wiggles get bigger and that can result in big curves in the flow - like a meandering river.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
“If you look at a video of a real baby primate, they have the exact same wiggles and imperfections,” says the filmmaker.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025
Known as topological waves, these wiggles often occur on the border of two different regions, like plasma and the vacuum in tokamaks at its outer edge.
From Science Daily ● May 23, 2024
Rather than set in stone, this race wiggles like Jello.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2024
“Oh, you’re good, my dear,” he wiggles his finger at her and smiles, “I’ll give you that. You’re very good.”
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
To be sure, American consumers have wiggled out of tight spots before, powering the U.S. economy through decades-high inflation spikes, a pandemic, and armed conflicts.
From Barron's ● May 28, 2026
Though Yamamoto wiggled out of the jam, it took him 23 pitches to escape the first inning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025
Strip away those embellishments, though, and it remains a stubbornly lightweight pop song, based around the same four chords Western music has utilised since Elvis wiggled his hips.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2025
Rojas wore Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s blue glove, wiggled the ball in it and hesitated during his windup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2025
Carmen stood up and wiggled her grateful toes.
From "I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919" by Lauren Tarshis
Maybe wiggling about a bit will throw off the kicker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
But the most likely answer is that particles of pollution are "wiggling their way through the lining of the blood vessels and lodging in various organs".
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
You can bet that most Americans, meanwhile, will be wiggling their hips to “Dákiti.”
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2025
Your body is wiggling all over the place if you’re not strong.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2025
There’re no wiggling fingers or talk of being a genius.
From "Fish in a Tree" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
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.
