Meaning & use
squiggle
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A small wavy or twisting line, usually drawn or written quickly and without much care.
Grammar: Can be counted: a squiggle, two squiggles; often followed by of or on.
Patterns
- a squiggle of something
- a squiggle on something
The toddler covered the page with purple squiggles.
I could not read his note, which was just a squiggle at the bottom of the form.
A green squiggle on the screen showed that the word was misspelled.
verbtransitive or intransitiveinformal
To draw or write something in small wavy, twisting lines.
Grammar: Can take an object (squiggle a line) or stand alone (she squiggled across the page).
Patterns
- squiggle something on something
- squiggle across something
He squiggled a rough signature on the delivery slip.
While the teacher talked, she squiggled idly in the margin.
The child squiggled all over the wall with a crayon.
Word forms
| plural | squiggles |
|---|---|
| third person singular | squiggles |
| past tense | squiggled |
| past participle | squiggled |
| -ing form | squiggling |
Common combinations
- a wavy squiggle
- She drew a wavy squiggle to show the river on the map.
- a red squiggle
- A red squiggle under the word warned me of a typo.
- draw a squiggle
- He drew a quick squiggle in place of a proper signature.
- squiggle of ink
- A squiggle of ink was all that remained of the sketch.
- squiggle in the margin
- There was a puzzling squiggle in the margin of the old book.
Synonyms and how they differ
- scribble
- Scribble suggests careless writing or drawing that fills space, while squiggle focuses on a single wavy, curly shape.
- doodle
- A doodle is a drawing made absent-mindedly and can have recognizable shapes, but a squiggle is just a loose curved line.
- scrawl
- Scrawl describes messy handwriting that is hard to read, rather than a deliberate wavy mark.
- wiggle
- Wiggle usually means a small side-to-side movement, while a squiggle is the mark left on paper.
Opposites
Word family
- squiggly adjective
- made of or looking like wavy lines
- squiggling noun
- the act of drawing wavy lines
- squiggler noun
- a person who makes squiggles
Commonly confused: squiggle or squirrel?
squiggle vs squirrel
A squirrel is a small furry animal; learners sometimes mix up the opening sound but the words are unrelated.
Practice
The doctor's handwriting was so messy that the prescription looked like a single ___ across the page.
Choose one answer.
A squiggle is a loose, wavy mark, which matches unreadable handwriting. A column, border or symbol would be neat and deliberate, so none fits the messy image.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “squiggle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.