How to Use fiddle with in a Sentence

fiddle with

phrasal verb
Definition of fiddle withnext
  • Thirty feet in the air, the nude man fiddled with the eagle at the top of the pole.
    — David Reamer | Alaska History, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Sep. 2023
  • The law also bans fiddling with the phone at stop signs or red lights.
    — Hiawatha Bray, BostonGlobe.com, 26 May 2023
  • My right hand on my desk, my left hand fiddling with a pencil in the air.
    — Michael W. Clune, Harper's Magazine, 7 Apr. 2023
  • Of course, the moment the man leaves, Karl starts fiddling with the light, causing one of the few sources of light in the shadowy room to hang askew.
    — Condé Nast, The New Yorker, 17 Nov. 2023
  • No more fiddling with the French press or waiting for a hot carafe of coffee to cool down.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 28 July 2023
  • That means less fiddling with apps just to get your color scheme on point.
    — Tom Warren, The Verge, 26 Sep. 2023
  • O’Connor was perched at his side in a big sweater, fiddling with her short hair and smiling slyly at her friend.
    — Amanda Hess, New York Times, 30 Nov. 2023
  • So to drop that window glass, Rivian’s design team had to spend lots of time fiddling with the size of the R2’s back doors.
    — Aarian Marshall, WIRED, 12 Mar. 2024
  • But, before any of that happens, the researchers plan to work on shrinking down the size of the tools, and maybe even fiddling with the concept of taste next.
    — Sara Kiley Watson, Popular Science, 11 May 2023
  • No screwing in a front tire, or plugging in a wonky battery, or fiddling with squeaky brakes.
    — Adrienne So, WIRED, 20 Nov. 2023
  • At the same time, the Fed has never been shy about fiddling with interest rates in election years.
    — Laurent Belsie, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Aug. 2024
  • Don’t fiddle with phones and cameras or computers the whole time.
    — Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY, 3 Mar. 2024
  • And few travelers have room in their luggage to bring a steamer, or the spare time to fiddle with the hotel room’s iron.
    — Jill Schildhouse, Travel + Leisure, 25 Apr. 2023
  • The valet might fiddle with all your presets, move your seat or adjust your mirrors.
    — Dave Schilling, Los Angeles Times, 11 Oct. 2023
  • Utility bills go down, as does time spent fiddling with the remote trying to get the heater to behave.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PCMAG, 26 Mar. 2024
  • Yes, that means a lot of hours spent fighting monsters and fiddling with Materia.
    — Andrew Webster, The Verge, 29 Feb. 2024
  • In short, not much changed for the majority of taxpayers, but lawmakers fiddled with rates on the rich.
    — Laura Doan, CBS News, 21 Aug. 2023
  • But the circumstances around his fall are vastly different in the film: Max is still home ill, but goes out to the balcony to fiddle with a birdhouse in a nearby tree.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 29 July 2024
  • Also, taking the time to watch, wait and remain in the kitchen while waiting for the curd to break gave me the space to actually fiddle with the functionality of my stove.
    — Kari Sonde, Washington Post, 9 Aug. 2023
  • Amal, who preferred to go by his first name for fear of retribution, took a slow drag of his cigarette, fiddling with a pack in his other hand.
    — Christina Goldbaum, New York Times, 19 May 2024
  • Sitting in the waiting room, Muhammad Arif Omid, 21, fiddled with his paper ticket in one hand and his Samsung smartphone in the other.
    — Safiullah Padshah, New York Times, 17 June 2023
  • Those were the paralyzing squeezes beneath my sternum, all part of having the anesthetic fiddle with one of the nerves on my diaphragm.
    — Neal Rubin, Detroit Free Press, 18 May 2024
  • Kevin Roberts is fiddling with the electrical cords dangling behind his platform bed.
    — Ingrid Abramovitch, ELLE Decor, 10 Aug. 2023
  • Until his death at 91, Botero was still pacing his warehouse, fiddling with fresh ideas, reworking old ones.
    — Richard Barnes, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023
  • With a Christmas tree in the background, Gosling, 43, and Ronson, 48, could be seen fiddling with a mixing board while a remix of the song played, accented by a bit of holiday magic in its sound.
    — Jen Juneau, Peoplemag, 19 Dec. 2023
  • Pacing around the stage, riffing on the idea of ghosts, Novak kept fiddling with the waistband, absent-mindedly tucking her T-shirt into it.
    — Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2024
  • The father listened intently; his daughter looked down, fiddling with the zipper on her hoodie.
    — Deanna Pan, BostonGlobe.com, 15 June 2023
  • But fans noticed the singer fiddling with her earpiece and microphone, leading many to believe there were some behind-the-scenes faults interfering with the set.
    — Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 July 2024
  • Nearby, her students are hustling around on a bright blue tarp, rolling out heavy cylinders of compressed gas and fiddling with boxes of electronics.
    — Geoff Brumfiel, NPR, 25 Mar. 2024
  • While Diane was still active, the couple had a ball donning overalls and building and fiddling with off-road vehicles that Barnett raced on dirt tracks.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 28 Mar. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fiddle with.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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