zigzag
Americannoun
-
zigzags
plural
-
a line, course, or progression characterized by sharp turns first to one side and then to the other.
-
one of a series of such turns, as in a line or path.
adjective
adverb
verb (used with object)
-
zigzags,
present (3rd person singular)
-
zigzagged,
past participle, past
-
zigzagging
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
zigzags,
present (3rd person singular)
-
zigzagged,
past participle, past
-
zigzagging
present participle
noun
-
a line or course characterized by sharp turns in alternating directions
-
one of the series of such turns
-
something having the form of a zigzag
adjective
-
(usually prenominal) formed in or proceeding in a zigzag
-
(of sewing machine stitches) produced in a zigzag by a swing needle used for joining stretch fabrics, neatening raw edges, etc
adverb
verb
-
to proceed or cause to proceed in a zigzag
-
(tr) to form into a zigzag
Usage
What does zigzag mean?
A zigzag is a line of alternating, sharp up-and-down turns that form peaks and valleys kind of resembling the letter Z.[caption id="attachment_172305" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Getty Images. A pattern of zigzags.[/caption]As a noun, zigzag can also refer to a route or path that resembles this kind of pattern, as in The dragonfly moved through the air in a zigzag. Zigzag can also be used as a verb meaning to move back and forth while traveling forward in a way that resembles this pattern, as in The dragonfly zigzagged through the air. As a verb, zigzag is most commonly used in the context of physical movement, but it can be used in situations in which people keep doing different things, such as changing their minds. A much more common term for this is flip-flop. It is also used as an adjective in phrases like zigzag pattern. In sewing, a zigzag stitch is a type of stitch that can be made by a sewing machine, such as to finish the edges of a garment. Some sewing machines use an attachment called a zigzagger to make such stitches. Example: Some animals, like the hare, move in a zigzag pattern when escaping predators, making it harder for them to be caught.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
zigzagsimple
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zigzagssimple
-
have zigzaggedperfect
-
has zigzaggedperfect
-
am zigzaggingprogressive
-
are zigzaggingprogressive
-
is zigzaggingprogressive
-
have been zigzaggingperfect progressive
-
has been zigzaggingperfect progressive
Past
-
zigzaggedsimple
-
had zigzaggedperfect
-
was zigzaggingprogressive
-
were zigzaggingprogressive
-
had been zigzaggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of zigzag
1705–15; < French; replacing earlier ziczac < French < German zickzack, gradational compound based on Zacke tack 1
Explanation
The word zigzag describes the shape of a line. A line drawn in a zigzag shape makes a lot of short, sharp turns. The letter Z is a zigzag itself, and a thunderbolt is also often represented as a zigzag. The first turn a zigzag line makes is called a zig, and the second is called the zag. Zigzag can also be a verb. If you're describing how you got lost in the desert, you might say, "I meant to go straight, but then I zigged, and then I zagged." Serpentine describes a line that curves, but the curves are rounded (like a serpent), not short and sharp like a zigzag.
Vocabulary lists containing zigzag
Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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Shiloh
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"My Antonia" by Willa Cather: Captivating Verbs
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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 Italian feature is a droll, Coen brothers-style exercise in deadpan absurdity, with a zigzag plot that caroms off a pleasingly demented cast of oddballs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
The development and adoption of AI may not go straight from point A to point B. It may very well zigzag, just as the internet economy did.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
Don’t zigzag from incident to incident or from regret to regret.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 2, 2025
Police cars formed a zigzag in the driveway.
From Salon ● May 29, 2025
Dedd couldn’t be sure, but she thought she saw a zigzag of something in the front, probably the monogram.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
In Homer’s “Odyssey,” about the hero’s 10-year quest to return home from the Trojan War, the story zigzags among locations, time periods and narrators.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Their filmography zigzags between thrillers and comedies, lean exercises and awards heavyweights, never making the same movie twice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2025
We are hardly the first generation of women to know in our bones that progress comes in zigzags and waves, and occasional backlash.
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2023
It zigzags from street level down to that same pasture, the jutting gray concrete of each turn as raw as an exposed ridgeline.
From New York Times ● Jul. 10, 2023
I copy the address into the margin of my notes, and then outline it in zigzags like a comic book POW!
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
From Levin's quiet street, the concrete border wall zigzagged up the ridge overlooking Shlomi.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
Shares in Beyond Meat zigzagged from under $2 at the end of September to a low of 52 cents on Oct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
On Day 5, shortly after the backyard sprinklers stopped their cycle, a single squirrel tentatively zigzagged across the yard bound for the bird feeder.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2024
A near-standing ovation and huge roar greeted Nadal, while the familiar pre-match foibles - aligning his water bottles, box jumps at the net and zigzagged sprint to the baseline - were also lapped up.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2024
It zigzagged diagonally up the slope, getting wider and skinnier as I went.
From "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart
In the southern Athens seaside suburb of Glyfada, a pensioner struggles to cross an avenue with her shopping trolley, zigzagging between cars stuck in traffic.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
We see the folds best in raking light—directed at the painting from an acute angle—and the fleshy effect was created by the painter zigzagging the wax pigment across her neck in layers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
This is his Pynchoniad, a zigzagging epic of America and the world through our bloodiest, most shameful hundred years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2025
After zigzagging hundreds of miles across Europe, the contents of the consignment had been verified five days earlier by customs officers at Schipol Airport in the Netherlands, ready for its road trip to Belgium.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2025
And like before, if you peered over the rail, you could see the paths zigzagging down to the seafront, except this time you could see the promenade at the bottom with rows of boarded-up stalls.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
