[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/squirm.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / squirm

[← S](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/S/)

# squirm

«squirm» in Mova's school dictionary: **to twist and wriggle your body because you are…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (squirm, squirms, squirmed, squirming); noun (a squirm)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To squirm means to twist and wriggle your body because you are uncomfortable, bored or trying to get free: "The puppy squirmed out of my arms." [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#m1)

2) To squirm also means to feel very embarrassed or ashamed: "His joke made me squirm." [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In stories it shows a character's discomfort or guilt without saying it directly. In everyday school life, children squirm on the carpet or squirm when asked a hard question. Phrases: "squirm in your seat", "squirm out of" (escape from something wriggling), "make someone squirm".

### examples

- The little boy squirmed in his chair during the long assembly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#x1)
- The fish squirmed in the net. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#x2)
- I squirmed when Mum showed my baby photos. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#x3)
- The puppy squirmed out of my arms. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#x4)
- He squirmed with embarrassment when he forgot his lines. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#x5)
- Worms squirmed in the wet soil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#x6)
- The tricky question made the minister squirm. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#x7)
- Instead of a dead donkey, he saw a very much alive Marionette, wriggling and squirming like an eel. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/#x8)

### note

Regular verb: squirmed. Close words: wriggle, writhe, fidget. "Squirm" often hints at embarrassment or guilt; "wriggle" is just movement.

### In the corpora

- [Mortified means extremely embarrassed; "cringe" is slang for that squirming feeling.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/9-humiliated-in-front-of-everyone-the-moment-that-won-t-go-away/6/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «squirm» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/squirm/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.