fidgety

adjective

ˈfi-jə-tē How to pronounce fidgety (audio)
Definition of fidgetynext
as in twitchy
making jerky or restless movements I get too fidgety to sit after a few minutes in a waiting room

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fidgety Often encircled by his rapt yet fidgety students, Dance Teacher Pat (Michael Wood) is a zealot who saddles his team with a choreographed tribute to Gandhi. — Celia Wren, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2022 Charles stands as the bridge to generations and generations of inevitability — all the way down to 9-year-old Prince George, the someday-king with a tousle of blond hair and fidgety energy. — Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2022 Our planet is a shifting mass of molten rock that continually migrates beneath the crust; even the deep mantle and its overlying upper mantle are fidgety, causing earthquakes. — Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 16 Aug. 2022 At DreamMore, the staff scrambled to distract the adults with no backup plans and the fidgety children whose parents had packed swim trunks but not snowsuits. — Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2022 See All Example Sentences for fidgety
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fidgety
  1. twitchy
  2. worried
  3. upset
  4. nervous
  5. anxious
  6. antsy
Adjective
  • From his wunderkind roles in Roger Dodger and The Squid and the Whale to his twitchy performances in The Social Network and The End of the Tour — and interviews with me and so many others — he’s always been a jolt of energy.
    — Steven Zeitchik, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Mar. 2025
  • Comments What would possess a twitchy guy to lock himself into a mobile blood donation truck and go all Nosferatu on 46 bags of the red stuff?
    — Sara Netzley, EW.com, 25 Feb. 2025
Definition of twitchy
Adjective
  • About 47 million people faced an enhanced to moderate severe storm threat from Madison, Wis., to Birmingham, Ala. Forecasters grew increasingly worried that intense thunderstorms farther south will likely bring an even greater tornado threat Saturday.
    — Sean Murphy and Russ Bynum, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2025
  • That’s going to be important because many people are worried about the health of the consumer.
    — Adam Sarhan, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of worried
Adjective
  • Men’s Pro Singles Recap The venue was rocked by a huge upset on Thursday afternoon, when 16-yr old Floridian No. 40 seed John Lucian Goins shocked the No. 1 seed Ben Johns in the quarters.
    — Todd Boss, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2025
  • Was this one of those days for an unthinkable upset?
    — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 9 Mar. 2025
Definition of upset
Adjective
  • Mitch [Hurwitz, the show creator] was very nervous.
    — Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2025
  • Trump won't be on the ballot again, but this week had to make a lot of Republicans who will be very nervous.
    — Domenico Montanaro, NPR, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of nervous
Adjective
  • Jacob Tremblay plays Winston's anxious stepson Wade.
    — Raja Krishnamoorthi, Newsweek, 13 Mar. 2025
  • In a time when many workers are anxious about what AI means for their roles, leaders who speak to both the potential and the limits of AI are earning deeper trust and keeping their teams engaged.
    — Cheryl Robinson, Forbes, 13 Mar. 2025
Definition of anxious
Adjective
  • But in the venue’s packed lobby, which had been repurposed as an overflow room with television screens set up for roughly 150 finance types, the mood was a bit antsy.
    — Rob Copeland, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2025
  • The Warriors were up 43-23, a plus-nine stint that allowed coach Steve Kerr to stretch Curry’s rest time past seven minutes without Curry or the home crowd getting antsy.
    — Anthony Slater, The Athletic, 24 Feb. 2025
Definition of antsy

Browse Nearby Words

fidgety
fie
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fidgety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fidgety. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on fidgety

Nglish: Translation of fidgety for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

What do SCOTUS, POTUS, and FLOTUS mean?

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

More Words with Remarkable Origins

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments
See More

Popular Features

See More

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

What do SCOTUS, POTUS, and FLOTUS mean?

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
dog-in-disguise
Rhyme Disguise Quiz Pair up words that look different but sound alike.
See All