Library / English Dictionary

SQUIRM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of wiggling

Synonyms:

squirm; wiggle; wriggle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("squirm" is a kind of...):

motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)

Derivation:

squirm (to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling)

Example:

The child tried to wriggle free from his aunt's embrace

Synonyms:

squirm; twist; worm; wrestle; wriggle; writhe

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "squirm" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "squirm"):

wrench (make a sudden twisting motion)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

squirm (the act of wiggling)

squirmer (one who can't stay still (especially a child))

Credits

 Context examples: 

Of course, they could squirm as they perished, as the socialists squirmed, as the speaker on the platform and the perspiring crowd were squirming even now as they counselled together for some new device with which to minimize the penalties of living and outwit the Cosmos.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It squirmed along the ground like some monstrous worm.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I could not squirm or struggle like a schoolboy.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was in obedience to law that the bird flew, and it was in obedience to the same law that fermenting slime had writhed and squirmed and put out legs and wings and become a bird.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I must not lose one crawl or squirm if I am to get the most out of the ferment.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It squirmed about, like some huge many-legged spider, and swayed back and forth to the regular roll of the vessel.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But with nothing eternal before me but death, given for a brief spell this yeasty crawling and squirming which is called life, why, it would be immoral for me to perform any act that was a sacrifice.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)