Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🐍 To twist and move 🐍 A twisting movement
wriggle

wriggle

2 4.7
A small twisting movement of the body to get free
  • noun
  • /ˈwrɪɡəl/
translation icon : movimiento
  • His toes evinced a self-satisfied little wriggle.
  • wriggle room
  • little wriggle

Examples

  • As I passed, I could have sworn it moved, made a little wriggle, but it must have been dead at least a week.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • She flaps and wriggles and stomps on the spongy earth until she finds a comfortable position.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The snake made a sudden wriggle as it slithered through the grass.

  • After a moment of panic, the fish gave a desperate wriggle to escape the net.

  • She felt a wriggle underneath the blanket and realized the cat was playing.

Synonyms

wiggle
vswriggle
37 1.0

A small, quick movement from side to side or up and down

is a twisting action aimed at moving away or escaping rather than slight shifting
squirm
vswriggle
4 4.1

A small twisting movement of the body that shows discomfort or nervousness

is done to move away or escape rather than from discomfort

Antonyms

stillness
38 3.5

A time of complete quiet and no movement that feels calm

How Vigorous

to thrash
24 5.8
wriggle
2 4.7
squirm
4 4.1
to wiggle
89 1.0
to twitch
66 2.8

Surface Forms

wriggle singular
wiggles plural

Etymology

Wriggle comes from an old English root wrig- that meant 'to twist' or 'turn', and it is like the everyday word wiggle. So a wriggle is a small twisting or squirming movement you make to move or escape.