twitched

verb

past tense of twitch
1
as in fidgeted
to make jerky or restless movements the dog twitched in her sleep

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in jerked
to move or cause to move with a sharp quick motion the rabbit twitched its nose

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of twitched Many a club’s board would have twitched in the face of the bare data, but the chain of command above Arteta stayed the course, and the FOMO is so high that tickets for Palace away this weekend are going for £45,000 ($60,000) on resale sites. — Phil Hay, New York Times, 21 May 2026 My jaw twitched uncontrollably. — Literary Hub, 15 May 2026 Pebbles twitched, branches waggled, cholla wiggled, weeds erupted then dried up and died. — Alina Hartounian, NPR, 20 Apr. 2026 Kearse twitched briefly after the lethal drugs began entering his system but stopped moving several minutes later. — Freida Frisaro, Sun Sentinel, 3 Mar. 2026 Baby Briana’s arms twitched and legs flopped against cold concrete. — Jayme Fraser, USA Today, 4 Feb. 2026 Through the scope, a polar bear twitched on the ice, 25 yards in front of me. — Scott Haugen, Outdoor Life, 4 Feb. 2026 The bonito’s body twitched until Yamasaki slid a thin metal wire down the column of its spinal cord, a second step called shinkei jime, which arrests its nervous system. — Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026 Their usefulness remains an open question At the back of a conference hall at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas, a humanoid robot twitched through a preprogrammed wave for a crowd of cell phone cameras—a classic scene of high spectacle and unclear utility at CES. — Eric Sullivan, Scientific American, 6 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for twitched
  1. fidgeted
  2. jerked
  3. squirmed
  4. yanked
  5. tossed
  6. lurched
  7. wiggled
  8. pulled
Verb
  • One woman ordered some home furniture while two children fidgeted nearby.
    — David Lyons, Sun Sentinel, 23 Mar. 2026
  • Between each dance was an excruciating silence during which network-TV producers monitored and reset their equipment while the men fidgeted onstage like excitable children.
    — Rebecca Jennings, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2026
Definition of fidgeted
Verb
  • But in 1933, within a matter of days, they were jerked back into reality.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Once the squid gather near the surface, lines fitted with bait are lowered into the water and rapidly jerked up and down to imitate small prey such as shrimp, triggering strikes before the catch is reeled aboard.
    — Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 20 June 2026
Definition of jerked
Verb
  • Belloumi’s 64th-minute strike with his left foot broke the deadlock in the second game of the two-leg affair and Gelhardt made sure with a low shot that squirmed past the Millwall goalkeeper.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 May 2026
  • His Japanese guest, usually a paragon of diplomatic cool, visibly squirmed.
    — Andreas Kluth, Twin Cities, 14 Apr. 2026
Definition of squirmed
Verb
  • In Berkeley, where California clay culture yanked ceramics out of the category of polite craft and into something huge, physical, ugly, and beautiful, Heilmann learned to weld.
    — Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Lucas Erceg was picked to close but was yanked for Steven Cruz after loading the bases with no outs in 14 pitches.
    — PJ Green, Kansas City Star, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of yanked
Verb
  • The film was a left-wing Sunday-school lesson dressed up as…another tossed-together Cox neo-Western.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 15 Aug. 2026
  • The Yankees had just taken a 1-0 lead on a solo home run from Trent Grisham when home plate umpire Vic Carapazza tossed Boone.
    — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of tossed
Verb
  • Markets have lurched up and down as oil prices shot higher because of the war with Iran.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Aug. 2026
  • His car lurched forward with Miller’s arm still reaching through the window, briefly dragging the cop down the street.
    — Guthrie Scrimgeour, Rolling Stone, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of lurched
Verb
  • Hawaii put runners on base in each of the first four innings, but Kirk wiggled out of it until the fifth when Waiki Doctolero blasted a three-run home run to get Hawaii back in the game.
    — Dennis Pope, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Punk eventually tried to go for the GTS, but Rhodes wiggled out and caught Punk in a headlock.
    — Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of wiggled
Verb
  • Yazmeen Ryan's second-half goal pulled the Summit (6-7-6) into a draw in San Diego.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Sometimes he can get pulled a little bit too far towards his near post with wide shots and open up space towards the back post.
    — Matt Pyzdrowski, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of pulled

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Cite this Entry

“Twitched.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/twitched. Accessed 19 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of twitched for Spanish Speakers

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