Synonyms of fiddled

fiddled

verb

past tense of fiddle

1

as in fidgeted

to make jerky or restless movements

the executive fiddled with a pen as she impatiently waited for the meeting to begin

Synonyms & Similar Words

• fidgeted
• tossed
• twitched
• squirmed
• jerked
• twisted
• wiggled
• shivered
• writhed
• jiggled
• trembled
• wriggled
• shook
• jigged
• thrashed
• threshed
• squiggled
• flitted
• fluttered
• shuddered
• quivered
• quaked
• paced
• twittered

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• rested
• relaxed
• unwound
• calmed (down)
• stilled

2

as in cheated

to rob by the use of trickery or threats

conscienceless grifters who had spent their lives fiddling the naive

Synonyms & Similar Words

• cheated
• plucked
• squeezed
• hustled
• stung
• stuck
• screwed
• beat
• diddled
• did
• bled
• deceived
• tricked
• swindled
• defrauded
• shortchanged
• victimized
• shorted
• fleeced
• reamed
• exploited
• bilked
• nobbled
• conned
• stiffed
• mulcted
• rooked
• suckered
• gaffed
• cozened
• euchred
• shook down
• hosed
• ripped off
• skinned
• chiseled
• fooled
• flimflammed
• betrayed
• wrenched
• choused
• did in
• clipped
• skunked
• took for a ride
• thimblerigged
• took to the cleaners
• extorted
• nicked
• sold a bill of goods to
• milked
• wrung
• gouged
• soaked
• wrested
• overcharged
• duped
• gulled
• bitched
• bamboozled
• double-crossed
• roped (in)
• fast-talked

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of fiddled

But what does some scientist know about eating fruit, of all things, when your hamstring feels like it’s being fiddled by Satan? — Dan England, Outside, 5 Feb. 2026

As Rossini stowed her purse in a tiny back office, a manager named Katie Atlas was onboarding a new employee, a young woman who fiddled nervously with her necklace. — Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025

Communities across the globe probably independently fiddled their way towards the invention of proto lip balms over and over. — Mark Hay, Popular Science, 13 Aug. 2025