to worm
- verb
- /wɜrm/
- Informal
- You've managed to worm your way onto the team and bring your weirdo, little friend along, too.
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Watch on YouTubeHe's been trying to worm his way out sometime.
- He's been trying to worm his way out sometime.
- This excuse I am brutally honest is often how they will try to worm out of their insensitive and careless comments and their lack of empathy.
Examples
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Little by little, Pancho wormed the story out of him.
Fiction book (2001) -
You're crafting quite the little role for yourself as you worm your way into the Manzo family.
Blog text (18) -
So this is how one worms one's way into my castle.
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Then she shows up, worms her way into the family, and gets me fired.
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And you're not trying to worm your way back into my service?
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Well, I finally wormed it out of him.
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And he would not find it easy to worm his way back into her good graces.
Fiction book (1992) -
We'll try and get montag here on this show and see if we can't worm some of his dark secrets out of him.
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You're trying to worm your way back into favour by dreaming up some far-fetched drama, of which you yourself, naturally, are the hero.
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He had to worm his way through several layers of bureaucracy to get his project approved.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Idioms
Compounds
- Specialized
A small parasite that lives in people and comes out through the skin causing strong pain after drinking dirty water
- Specialized
A small animal that lives inside another animal and takes its food, often causing sickness
A small red earthworm that lives in soil, helps make soil better, and people use it as fishing bait
- Specialized
An infection from drinking water with baby worms that causes painful blisters when the worm comes out
- Specialized
A gear with a screw shaft that turns a toothed wheel to change direction and make turning slower and stronger
- Specialized
A small, long tropical fish that lives in shallow water and hides in seagrass
A worm with a long body made of many ring-shaped parts like an earthworm or leech
- Specialized
A large green caterpillar with white stripes that eats tomato and tobacco plants
- Specialized
A small sea worm that pulls its front part into its body and looks like a peanut
- Specialized
A very small thin animal with a pointed body that lives in soil or inside other living things
- Specialized
A caterpillar that moves in large groups and eats crops like grass and grain
- Specialized
A sea worm with many body segments and small bristles on each segment
- Specialized
A long soft animal with a body made of many rings, like earthworms and leeches
- Specialized
A small soft animal with velvety skin that catches prey with sticky slime
A small caterpillar with legs only near its head and tail that moves by making a loop
- Specialized
A thin sea animal that lives in a tube on the deep ocean floor and has tentacles
- Specialized
A small thin salamander that looks like a worm and lives on the Pacific coast of the United States
- Specialized
A gear that fits with a screw-shaped gear to turn movement at a right angle
- Specialized
A soft sac in an animal that is filled with fluid and contains a young tapeworm
A large earthworm that comes out at night or when the ground is wet and people use for fishing
- Specialized
A soft sea animal like a thin worm that stretches a long head to catch food
- Specialized
A worm that lives in the sea with many small bristles on its sides that help it move
- Specialized
A large green caterpillar with white stripes that eats potato and tomato leaves
- Specialized
A small wormlike parasite with hooks that lives inside the nose of animals like dogs or cows
- Specialized
A parasite that lives in animal intestines and can pull its spiny head back to hold on
- Specialized
A very small worm that lives in vinegar and eats tiny living things that make it turn sour
How Intrusive
Surface Forms
Etymology
To worm information out of someone uses the picture of a worm slipping out by slow movement, from the old word wyrm meaning 'to creep' or 'to wriggle'. So to worm a secret out of someone is to get it slowly and carefully, often by sly questions.