diddles

verb

present tense third-person singular of diddle
1
as in pokes
to move or act slowly even though the hurricane was fast approaching, federal and local politicians wasted precious time diddling

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in plucks
to rob by the use of trickery or threats an unscrupulous Broadway producer diddles little old ladies by persuading them to invest in a surefire flop

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for diddles
  1. pokes
  2. plucks
  3. lingers
  4. squeezes
  5. drags
  6. cheats
  7. crawls
  8. hustles
Verb
  • Even in the bathrooms, the toilet and bidet are concealed inside a kind of Travertine bench and the showerhead pokes out from a monolithic stone slab.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Aug. 2026
  • This is strong language, which pokes at our tribal memory of gasoline shortages from the 1970’s.
    — George Calhoun, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of pokes
Verb
  • His torso and thighs grow eye-poppingly muscular beneath their skimpy fur-and-leather togs—a development that does not go unnoticed by a warrior named Red Hair, who plucks the young hunk from his post and tosses him into the prime time of the gladiator pit.
    — Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 15 June 2026
  • But the emotional gravity of this offering's deeply personal, melancholic lyrical content plucks an undeniably profound chord that uniquely separates it from the rest of his work.
    — Chris Barilla, PEOPLE, 29 May 2026
Definition of plucks
Verb
  • Nearly the entire group lingers in the living room—playing chess, swapping stories, exchanging photos.
    — Johanna Wolfe, Robb Report, 22 Aug. 2026
  • As attendees make their way out of the venue, excitement lingers through the air.
    — Kailyn Brown, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of lingers
Verb
  • If internal fluid pressure drops during aggressive extraction, the surrounding earth squeezes the cavern inward, permanently shrinking total storage capacity and crushing steel well casings.
    — Siddharth Misra, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026
  • As engine speed rises, centrifugal force squeezes the drive clutch closed and pushes the belt farther outward.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of squeezes
Verb
  • As the conflict drags on, damage to the Middle East will extend far beyond infrastructure.
    — Dina Esfandiary, Foreign Affairs, 27 Aug. 2026
  • And while American and Israeli strikes have battered Iran for months, the conflict has also taken a toll on Pentagon resources and American lives as the war drags on.
    — Steven Beynon, ABC News, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of drags
Verb
  • Any forward who cheats for defence, as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has for much of his career, will play an elevated role on a Babcock team.
    — Allan Mitchell, New York Times, 26 June 2026
  • Though Lesnar rarely cheats to win, Femi isn’t going to lose clean.
    — Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 31 May 2026
Definition of cheats
Verb
  • Hairy-nosed wombat births are hard to spot, as after about a 30-day pregnancy, the joey crawls into its mother’s pouch.
    — Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 16 Aug. 2026
  • Researchers have developed a new control framework that enables humanoid robots to perform agile movements, including army crawls, breakdancing and backflips.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of crawls
Verb
  • Jessica Gonzalez hustles behind her booth at the recent Renegade Craft Fair, frantically ringing up sales, answering questions and packaging her beeswax candles.
    — Lisa Boone, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
  • Despite concerns that chip stocks could be topping out as the industry hustles to boost supply, Wall Street thinks Micron still has plenty of room to run.
    — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 22 June 2026
Definition of hustles
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.

Browse Nearby Words

diddled (with)
diddles
diddles (with)
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Cite this Entry

“Diddles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/diddles. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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