A wriggler is something that wriggles: it squirms, twists, and moves in a wiggly way. The word often describes baby mosquitoes, which live in water before they grow wings and fly. These mosquito wrigglers look like tiny dark commas that twist and pulse through ponds, puddles, and bird baths. They breathe through tubes on their tails, so they hang upside down from the water's surface, then wriggle deeper when startled.

The word also describes any creature or person that won't stay still. A restless puppy that squirms out of your arms is a wriggler. So is a younger sibling who can't sit quietly during a long dinner. Fish are wrigglers when you try to hold them, and earthworms are expert wrigglers as they tunnel through soil.

You might hear someone say a person wriggled out of trouble, meaning they escaped a difficult situation through cleverness or excuses, like wriggling out of a too-tight shirt. When you wriggle your toes or fingers, you move them in that same squirmy, twisting way.