wiggle room
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of wiggle room
First recorded in 1985–90
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.
Investors don’t currently have large positions in them, so they have wiggle room in their portfolios to take a chance on a few more shares—and they have recently shown the proclivity to do that.
From Barron's • May 13, 2026
He doesn’t have much wiggle room on gas prices, so he focuses on keeping breakfast and lunch affordable and “providing value” for customers under pressure.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026
Cooking one more night a week could result in you having a bit more wiggle room in your “fun” budget.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 27, 2026
The reasoning: Rising gross margins often show a company has pricing power with its customers, but it also gives a company wiggle room to boost its operating margin as long as other costs don’t balloon.
From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026
Between association with his father and their own memories of him as a feverish invalid, he had some wiggle room.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
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.
