Word.ws English Dictionary

squirming

squirming is the present participle and gerund of squirm.

Meaning of squirm

Verb

squirm (third-person singular simple present squirms, present participle squirming, simple past and past participle squirmed)

  1. (intransitive) To twist one's body with snakelike motions.
    • The prisoner managed to squirm out of the straitjacket.
    Synonyms:
    writhe, wriggle
  2. (intransitive) To twist in discomfort, especially from shame or embarrassment.
    • I recounted the embarrassing story in detail just to watch him squirm.
    Synonyms:
    fidget
  3. To evade a question, an interviewer etc.

See all 4 meanings of squirm

Noun

squirming (plural squirmings)

  1. The motion of something that squirms.
    • these squirmings of the newborn1927, Harper's Magazine: Volume 155

Forms of squirming

pluralsquirmings

Questions about squirming

What does squirming mean?
Squirming means the motion of something that squirms.
What is squirming the present participle and gerund of?
Squirming is the present participle and gerund of squirm.
What part of speech is squirming?
Squirming is a noun.
What is the plural of squirming?
The plural of squirming is squirmings.

Words near squirming in the dictionary

  1. squirmers
  2. squirmier
  3. squirmiest
  4. squirmily
  5. squirminess
  6. squirming
  7. squirmingly
  8. squirmings
  9. squirmish
  10. squirmished
  11. squirmishes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: squirming (page history and authors); squirm (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “squirming.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/squirming. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.