as in to flap
to move from side to side or up and down with quick jerky motions
the rabbit waggled its ears and hopped away
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of waggle
Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Apr. 2023
The younger Yaz’s pre-swing bat waggle was the topic, hitting coach Justin Viele said.
—Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 Mar. 2023
Jacob Whitehead, The Athletic, 30 June 2024
These massive mammals greet each other with a mix of gestures and sounds—by flapping their ears, making rumbling noises, waggling their tails and reaching out their trunks, scientists reported last week in the journal Communications Biology.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 May 2024
See All Example Sentences for waggle
Noun
The silence of the forest might be interrupted with a siren salute from a passing law enforcement helicopter, or a wing waggle from firefighting aircraft passing en route to a fire.
—Verb
For many, this is the last image of that player with the waggling hips, at the top of the world, and unburdened by football’s brutality.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for waggle
Noun
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Even a single flap pet door can let air in and raise your energy bill by 20 percent, says Wortsmith.—
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Various zippered pockets inside the front flap are great for stashing smaller essentials, and a front pocket can fit a 13-inch laptop.—
Verb
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The suspect poured gasoline on the girls as well as both officers, flicked a lighter and set the room ablaze.—
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This means that every once in a while, if the wind gusts just right (or wrong), your breath may still get flicked up onto your glasses.—
Noun
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The real dog sniffed Jennie and gave an approving tail wag.—
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This adorable costume looks poised to rule over The Masked Singer stage with a flick of her paw and a wag of her stumpy tail.—
Verb
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At 6-foot-4, 255 pounds, Huff at his best has good bend and some twitch to his game.—
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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.—
Noun
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One man asked for a switch of signs.—
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Ball quickly sprinted to the scorer’s table and checked in to applause from the crowd, likely unaware of the switch with the starting lineup.—
Verb
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At the end of Monday's live Atlas demonstration, the humanoid prototype swung its arms in a theatrical gesture to introduce a static model of the new product version of Atlas, which looked slightly different and was blue in color.—
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The Chiefs’ special teams also never swung the field with a return for a touchdown.—
Noun
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Not with pole plants or hippie wiggle turns, but with what is truly the most important part of skiing.—
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Every small movement of the eyes or wiggle of the fingers provides hope for Rio Foster’s mother.—
Verb
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Anthony Edwards became the third-youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000 career points, when the Minnesota Timberwolves star swished a 13-foot fadeaway jumper from the baseline midway through the fourth quarter against Cleveland on Thursday night.—
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Leave for a few minutes and then swish the water around the inside of the bowl with a toilet brush and flush.—
Cite this Entry
“Waggle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/waggle. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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