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squiggle

/ˈskwɪgəl/
/ˈskwɪgəl/
IPA guide

Other forms: squiggles

A squiggle is a curly, looping line, like the squiggle that serves as your signature when you sloppily sign your name.

If you can't read someone's writing, you can call it a squiggle or a scrawl. You can also use squiggle to describe decorative accents or drawn designs, like squiggles of paint in modern art or ornamental squiggles in the pattern on your sofa. Squiggle originated in the early 19th century and was initially used a verb derived from wriggle and squirm.

Definitions of squiggle
  1. noun
    a short twisting line
    synonyms: curlicue
    see moresee less
    type of:
    line
    a mark that is long relative to its width
  2. noun
    an illegible scrawl
    “his signature was just a squiggle but only he could make that squiggle”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    cacography, scratch, scrawl, scribble
    poor handwriting
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