wriggling
part of speech
verb, -ing form of «wriggle» (wriggle, wriggles, wriggled, wriggling); adjective (a wriggling worm)
meaning for a pupil
1) Wriggling means twisting and turning your body with quick small movements. tree →
2) Wriggling (out of something) means trying to avoid doing something or to escape from a difficult situation. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons, worms, maggots and fish move by wriggling. In everyday life and stories, children wriggle in their seats when bored or excited, and a puppy wriggles out of someone's arms. «Wriggling out of a job» means trying to avoid it. Phrases: «wriggling worm», «wriggling free», «wriggle out of».
examples
- A wriggling worm came up after the rain. tree →
- Stop wriggling and sit still! tree →
- The puppy kept wriggling out of my arms. tree →
- The fish was wriggling on the line. tree →
- He was wriggling out of doing the washing-up. tree →
- The baby was wriggling in her pram. tree →
- The caterpillar was wriggling along the leaf. tree →
- She was wriggling her body in distress. tree →
note
From «wriggle»: drop the e before -ing. The w is silent. Similar: «wiggle», «squirm», «twist».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «wriggling» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.