WRIGGLED Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

wriggled

verb

past tense of wriggle

as in squirmed

to make jerky or restless movements a toddler wriggling in his seat all throughout the church service

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in crawled

to move slowly with the body close to the ground a worm slowly wriggled across the sidewalk

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as in infiltrated

to introduce in a gradual, secret, or clever way within a month of his arrival, this social upstart had wriggled himself into the family's good graces

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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 wriggled The baby squirrel wriggled, knocked from its forest home in the storm. — Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 20 Aug. 2026 Countless individual tread blocks, divided by wide grooves, wriggled around instead of digging in. — Michael Harley, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026 Play was recycled and Harrison Armstrong ended up firing a good chance too close to goalkeeper Senne Lammens after Iliman Ndiaye had wriggled free down the right. — Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2026 Emma wriggled obediently out of the offending articles. — Literary Hub, 26 Feb. 2026 In the soil in his palm, an earthworm wriggled. — Madeline Heim, jsonline.com, 26 Dec. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for wriggled

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 early September, 1972, a Palestinian militant group called Black September infiltrated the Olympic Games in Munich and killed eleven Israeli athletes.

— Rozina Ali, New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2026
Italian food products and cuisine have infiltrated just about every corner of the globe, but nothing compares to trying classic Italian dishes at their source—and there’s so much more than pizza, pasta, and gelato.

— Laura Itzkowitz, Travel + Leisure, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of infiltrated

Verb

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, Literary Hub, 15 May 2026

Definition of twitched

Verb

Tech has crept into every facet of everyday life, like an invisible fog of ones and zeros.

— Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026
The height of this strategy shift was the Sneak Attack by Roger (SABR), in which Federer crept forward to return opponent’s serves almost on the half volley, shortening points and taking away time from his opponent.

— Amelie Claydon, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of crept

Verb

Abdeen sneaked a few berries into his mouth, with one eye on his sister Essie, who stood nearby.

— Rozina Ali, New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2026
Wilyer Abreu and Adley Rutschman answered with RBI hits before Gasper's first Red Sox homer sneaked around Pesky's Pole in the seventh and Abreu hit an RBI single.

— CBS News, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of sneaked

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

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“Wriggled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wriggled. Accessed 31 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of wriggled

verb

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