Meaning & use
waddle
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To walk with short steps, tilting from side to side, like a duck.
Grammar: No object; often followed by a direction: waddle across the yard.
Patterns
- waddle across something
- waddle along
The ducks waddled down to the pond.
He waddled to the car with a heavy bag on each arm.
The penguin waddled across the ice.
nounusually singular
A rocking, side-to-side way of walking with short steps.
Grammar: Usually with a: walk with a waddle.
Patterns
- walk with a waddle
The toddler's waddle made everyone smile.
She walked with a slow waddle in the last weeks of pregnancy.
The bird crossed the road with a comic waddle.
Word forms
| third person singular | waddles |
|---|---|
| past tense | waddled |
| past participle | waddled |
| -ing form | waddling |
Common combinations
- waddle along
- The geese waddled along the riverbank.
- waddle across
- A duck waddled across the road.
- waddle off
- The penguin waddled off toward the water.
- waddle around
- The toddler waddled around in a big diaper.
- waddle like a duck
- After the big dinner, he waddled like a duck to the sofa.
Synonyms and how they differ
- toddle
- Toddle suggests small unsteady steps of a young child, while waddle suggests a rocking motion.
- shuffle
- Shuffle means dragging the feet along the ground, without the side-to-side sway of a waddle.
- stagger
- Stagger means walking unsteadily, usually from weakness or drink, and is not comic like waddle.
- lumber
- Lumber suggests moving slowly and heavily, while waddle emphasizes the swaying.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: waddle or wade?
waddle vs wade
Wade means to walk through water or mud, while waddle means to walk with a swaying motion on land.
Practice
Which word describes the way a duck walks, with short steps and a swaying body?
Choose one answer.
Waddle describes the swaying walk of a duck. Stride means long steps, tiptoe means walking on toes, and sprint means running fast.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “waddle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.