Dangle

/ˈdæŋ.ɡəl/ · verb

Meaning

(intransitive) To hang loosely with the ability to swing..

Definitions by Sense

1. (intransitive) To hang loosely with the ability to swing.
2. (intransitive, slang, ice hockey, lacrosse) The action of performing a move or deke with the puck in order to get past a defender or goalie; perhaps because of the resemblance to dangling the puck on a string.
3. (transitive) To hang or trail something loosely.
4. (transitive, figurative, by extension) To put forth as a possibility.
5. (intransitive, dated) To trail or follow around.
6. (medicine, intransitive) Of a patient: to be positioned with the legs hanging over the edge of the bed.
7. (medicine, transitive) To position (a patient) in this way.
8. An agent of one intelligence agency or group who pretends to be interested in defecting or turning to another intelligence agency or group.

Example Sentences

His feet are dangling in the water.

He'd rather on a gibbet dangle / Than miss his dear delight, to wrangle.

From her lifted hand / Dangled a length of ribbon.

Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

He dangled around three players and the goalie to score.

I like to sit on the edge and dangle my feet in the water.

That it happens to have been produced under the imprimatur of Michael Bay dangles the possibility of poor taste, but unfortunately, bombast and conspicuous consumption are nowhere to be found.

To dangle at the elbow of a wench who can't make up her mind to accept the common title of wife, till she has been courted a certain number of weeks — so the old blinker, her father, says.

Synonyms for dangle

Antonyms for dangle

Related Words

Word Forms

• dangles
• dangling
• dangled

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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