wriggle

American  

[rig-uhl] / ˈrɪg əl /

verb (used without object)

• wriggles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• wriggled,
  past participle,  past
• wriggling
  present participle

1. to twist to and fro; writhe; squirm.

2. to move along by twisting and turning the body, as a worm or snake.

3. to make one's way by shifts or expedients (often followed byout ).

   to wriggle out of a difficulty.

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verb (used with object)

• wriggles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• wriggled,
  past participle,  past
• wriggling
  present participle

1. to cause to wriggle.

   to wriggle one's hips.

2. to bring, get, make, etc., by wriggling.

   to wriggle one's way through a narrow opening.

noun

• wriggles
  plural

1. act of wriggling; a wriggling movement.

wriggle British  

/ ˈrɪɡəl /

verb

1. to make or cause to make twisting movements

2. (intr) to progress by twisting and turning

3. (intr; foll by into or out of) to manoeuvre oneself by clever or devious means

   wriggle out of an embarrassing situation

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noun

1. a wriggling movement or action

2. a sinuous marking or course

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• wriggler
  noun
• outwriggle
  verb (used with object)
• unwriggled
  adjective
• wriggly
  adjective
• wrigglingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• wriggles
  plural

Participles

• wriggling
  present
• wriggled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• wriggle
  simple
• wriggles
  simple
• have wriggled
  perfect
• has wriggled
  perfect
• am wriggling
  progressive
• are wriggling
  progressive
• is wriggling
  progressive
• have been wriggling
  perfect progressive
• has been wriggling
  perfect progressive

Past

• wriggled
  simple
• had wriggled
  perfect
• was wriggling
  progressive
• were wriggling
  progressive
• had been wriggling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will wriggle
  simple
• will have wriggled
  perfect
• will be wriggling
  progressive
• will have been wriggling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of wriggle

1485–95; < Middle Low German wriggelen (cognate with Dutch wriggelen ), frequentative of *wriggen to twist, turn, akin to Old English wrīgian to twist; see wry

Explanation

To wriggle is to squirm and twist quickly. Think of how hard it is to hold a rambunctious puppy as it wriggles in your arms. Wriggle sounds a lot like wiggle, and the two words very nearly mean the same thing. There is a subtle difference, though: when you wriggle, you twist, turn, or bend as you move. When you wiggle, you make more of a back-and-forth motion. In fact, these two near-homonyms have completely different etymological sources. While wiggle stems from a Germanic root meaning "cradle," wriggle's root means "to turn or bend."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wriggle wriggles wriggled wriggling

The rules allowed some wriggle room for Japan to ship weapons and components to key partners under joint-development programs deemed critical to Japan’s security, such as ballistic missile defense systems developed with the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026

Chelsea know there is wriggle room in the title race with meetings against Arsenal and City to follow later this month.

From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2026

"You need to have some wriggle room" for when things go wrong, he added.

From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2025

Matthew Umhofer, an attorney representing the Alliance, said the city paid big money to Gibson Dunn in a failed attempt to wriggle out of its legal obligations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025

Granted, they’d always managed to wriggle their way out of dying before.

From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi

It wriggles back into the streets aiming for friends, tunes, food.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

Ulster break forward with a darting run from Stuart McCloskey, who gives it out to Rob Baloucoune and runs into trouble as he wriggles his way inside as Clermont survive a scare.

From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2024

She wriggles her nose, rolls her eyes and turns her face to the side, trying not to completely cast me off.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2024

When a nematode wriggles around a petri dish, what’s going on inside a tiny roundworm’s even tinier brain?

From Scientific American ● Aug. 21, 2023

James wriggles out of my grasp, heads toward the tent opening.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

Forty years ago in February, Jackson wriggled free of her father Joe Jackson’s stifling management with the release of “Control.”

From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2026

Servin remembered her daughter as a bubbly toddler with piercing blue eyes who wriggled with delight at the sight of Elmo.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026

James Justin wriggled free inside the Forest area and when his shot was saved by Ortega, he had the presence of mind to square the rebound to Okafor, who slotted home from 10 yards.

From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026

She said she slipped his grip, wriggled free and got away.”

From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2025

Irela wriggled momentarily, then pointed to the boy in the picture and said, “Pay attention. His shirt is white.”

From "Lupita Mañana" by Patricia Beatty

It takes a big collective effort of a dozen or more people to drag the wriggling mass of snapper, mackerel, barracuda, rays, and many more fish besides, onto the beach.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

“Before you know it, white worms are wriggling and swarming in every garbage bag and along the walls and floors and underlids of every trash can.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

If you are wriggling in the gigantic, sticky net of grief that is our national gloom, falling in with “The Pitt” may not seem like the right medicine for this moment.

From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2026

They milled in the room to music between sessions with partners, shaking off awkwardness by wriggling their arms, swinging their hips, jumping or full-on dancing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2025

“I want to ride on the bike too,” Raymond wailed beside me, wriggling his hand out of mine.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Related Words

• crawl
• sneak
• squirm
• zigzag