Worm

/wɜːm/ name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
  • Grammar: worm is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: amble, angleworm, angleworms, animal.
  • Useful contrasts: block, conceal, jam.
  • Usage evidence: The early bird catches the worm.

How to use "worm"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "worm" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "worm" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "worm" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "worm" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "worm" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "amble" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "worm", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.

    "‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’"

  2. 2
    Initialism of write once, read many. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
  3. 3
    any of numerous relatively small elongated soft-bodied animals especially of the phyla Annelida and Chaetognatha and Nematoda and Nemertea and Platyhelminthes; also many insect larvae wordnet
  4. 4
    More loosely, any of various tubular invertebrates resembling annelids but not closely related to them, such as velvet worms, acorn worms, flatworms, or roundworms.

    "Leaning that I might eat, I stretched and clung Over the shapeless depth in which those corpses hung. A woman’s shape, now lank and cold and blue, The dwelling of the many-coloured worm, Hung there […]"

  5. 5
    screw thread on a gear with the teeth of a worm wheel or rack wordnet
Show 19 more definitions
  1. 6
    Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake, snail, or caterpillar. archaic, poetic

    "1561, Geneva Bible, Acts 28:3-4, And when Paul had gathered a nomber of stickes, & laid them on the fyre, there came a viper out of the heat, and leapt on his hand. Now when the Barbarians sawe the worme hang on his hand, they said among them selues This man surely is a murtherer, whome, thogh he hathe escaped the sea, yet Vengeance hathe not suffred to liue."

  2. 7
    a software program capable of reproducing itself that can spread from one computer to the next over a network wordnet
  3. 8
    A type of wingless "dragon", especially a gigantic sea serpent or any kind of dragon. archaic

    "In the Cross of Cong (A.D. 1123) the Celtic inter-laced patterns are found side by side with the "worm-dragon" ornament .."

  4. 9
    a person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect wordnet
  5. 10
    A type of wingless "dragon", especially a gigantic sea serpent or any kind of dragon.; Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm. archaic
  6. 11
    A contemptible or devious being.

    "Don't try to run away, you little worm!"

  7. 12
    A self-replicating program that propagates through a network, differing from a virus in usually lacking any destructive effects.

    "When Trevor opened his email, a worm spread to 100 people in his address book."

  8. 13
    A graphical representation of the total runs scored across a number of overs.
  9. 14
    Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.

    "If the Worms of the Nut or Spindle be worn, the Spindle must be examin'd by the Smith"

  10. 15
    Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.; A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.
  11. 16
    Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.; The spiral wire of a corkscrew.
  12. 17
    Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.; A muscular band in the tongue of some animals, such as dogs; the lytta.
  13. 18
    Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.; The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to save space.
  14. 19
    Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.; A short revolving screw whose threads drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel or rack by gearing into its teeth.
  15. 20
    A maggot. informal, poetic

    "Food for the worms."

  16. 21
    An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one’s mind with remorse. figuratively

    "The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul!"

  17. 22
    A strip of linked tiles sharing parallel edges in a tiling.
  18. 23
    The lytta.
  19. 24
    A dance, or dance move, in which the dancer lies on the floor and undulates the body horizontally thereby moving forwards.
Verb
  1. 1
    To make (one's way) with a crawling motion. transitive

    "We wormed our way through the underbrush."

  2. 2
    to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling) wordnet
  3. 3
    To move with one's body dragging the ground. intransitive

    "Inch by inch I wormed along the secret passageway, flat to the ground, not once raising my head, hardly daring to pull a full breath[…]."

  4. 4
    To work one's way by artful or devious means. figuratively, intransitive

    "When debates and fretting jealousy / Did worm and work within you more and more, / Your colour faded."

  5. 5
    To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate. figuratively, transitive

    "He wormed his way into the organization."

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means. often

    "They […]find themselves wormed out of all power."

  2. 7
    To drag out of, to get information that someone is reluctant or unwilling to give (through artful or devious means or by pleading or asking repeatedly). figuratively, transitive

    "They[…]wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell."

  3. 8
    To fill in the contlines of (a rope) before parcelling and serving. transitive

    "Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way."

  4. 9
    To deworm (an animal). transitive
  5. 10
    To cut the worm, or lytta, from under the tongue of (a dog, etc.) for the purpose of checking a disposition to gnaw, and formerly supposed to guard against canine madness. transitive

    "The men[…] assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies."

  6. 11
    To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm. transitive
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
ambleanglewormanglewormsanimalarmywormbad lot

Example

"The early bird catches the worm."

Common questions

What does "worm" mean?

A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.

What is a synonym for "worm"?

Common synonyms include: amble, angleworm, angleworms, animal, armyworm, bad lot.

How do you use "worm" in a sentence?

The early bird catches the worm.

How do you pronounce "worm"?

Pronounced /wɜːm/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English worm, werm, wurm, wirm, from Old English wyrm (“worm, snake”), from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis, possibly from *wer- (“to turn”). Doublet of vermin and wyrm, the latter of which is a fairly recent borrowing directly from the Old English. (computing): First computer usage by John Brunner in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider. Cognates Germanic cognates include Dutch worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Swedish orm (“snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk orm (“earthworm or snake”), Danish orm and Yiddish וואָרעם (vorem). Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Lithuanian var̃mas (“insect, midge”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Danish and German Worm.

More for "worm"

Synonyms

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