waddle
UK/ˈwɒd.əl//ˈwɑd.əl/
waddle noun: a squat, swaying gait.
Noun
waddle (plural waddles)
- A squat, swaying gait.
- the waddle of a duck
- A group of birds, such as ducks and penguins, when walking.
- Mr. Lillis imported a waddle of penguins who lined up at the clubhouse gate in their snappy thermal attire and were the first clients admitted.1963, Red Smith, The Best of Red Smith, F. Watts, page 111
- You can see the dolphin show, the miracles of Stellar's sea lions and the cute waddle of penguins under the glittering illumination of the indoor swimming pool.2008, Hyeongak Kim, Visual Atlas of Korea: 2008 Map & Guide, Kyohaksa, page 225
Verb
waddle (third-person singular simple present waddles, present participle waddling, simple past and past participle waddled)
- To walk with short steps, tilting the body from side to side.
- The pond was another favourite place to visit. Moorhens strutted from the neighbouring bushes, and a bevy of Muscovy ducks, a study in black, white and red, waddled from the farmyard hard by to enjoy a refreshing splash.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 217
- To move slowly.
- Now, on the bright side, things weren't all bad; they had commendably-thick belt armor, which was 12 inches thickness, and they had a very large number of subdivided watertight compartments, which would make them very durable. Due to their being quite fat, they could also turn very quickly, even if...2018 December 19, Drachinifel, 4:55 from the start, in SMS Nassau - Guide 007 (Human Voice), archived from the original on 18 Dec 2022
Proper noun capitalized: Waddle
Waddle (plural Waddles)
- A surname.
waddle meaning in Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
waddle in Urdu
- بےڈھنگی چال, جھومتی چال, مٹکتے جھومتے ہوئے چلنا
waddle in Malayalam
- dodder, toddle, totter
- പിച്ചനടക്കുക, കുലുങ്ങിനടക്കുക, ആടിയാടിപ്പോകുക, ആടിക്കുഴഞ്ഞു നടക്കുക, ഇടറിനടക്കുക, പേച്ചി നടക്കുക
waddle in Kannada
- ಒಲೆದಾಡುತ್ತ ನಡೆ
Examples of waddle in a sentence
- She was big pregnant and waddled around their home with Matthew teasing her about her big belly.
- They arrived in a jam of buggies, toddlers waddling around sticky-fingering the walls.
- Maria was forever to begive her begivings to the loathsome imposter who’s waddling skulk had haunted her.
Forms of waddle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | waddles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | waddles |
| present participle | waddling |
| past participle | waddled |
| past | waddled |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Waddles |
Origin of waddle
From Middle English wadelen, frequentative form of waden, equivalent to wade + -le. Compare Saterland Frisian wuttelje (“to waddle”), Old High German wadalōn (“to roam; wander”), Middle High German wadelen, wedelen (“to wander; rove”), German wedeln (“to waggle”). First known use in English in a version of the Song of Roland around the year 1400.
Words formed from waddle
Words that rhyme with waddle
Questions about waddle
- What does waddle mean?
- Waddle means a squat, swaying gait.
- What is waddle in Urdu?
- Waddle in Urdu is بےڈھنگی چال, جھومتی چال, مٹکتے جھومتے ہوئے چلنا. See Waddle meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is waddle?
- Waddle can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce waddle?
- Waddle is pronounced /ˈwɒd.əl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of waddle?
- The plural of waddle is waddles.
Words near waddle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: waddle (page history and authors); Waddle (page history and authors); waddle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); waddle (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); waddle (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-waddle.ogg, en-au-waddle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “waddle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/waddle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.