fiddle with

phrasal verb

fiddled with; fiddling with; fiddles with

1

: to move or handle (something) with the hands or fingers in a nervous way

She was nervously fiddling with her pencil as she waited for the test to start.

2

: to change or handle (something, such as the controls of a machine) in a way that shows one is not sure what to do

He was fiddling with the controls of the television, trying to get it to work.

3

: to change (something) in a harmful or foolish way

It became clear that someone had fiddled with the equipment.

Examples of fiddle with in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For further confirmation, the gold-to-CPI-Alt ratio (which calculates CPI using its 1982 methodology, before the government started fiddling with it) sits at just 0.9 – far below its historical average of 2.6. —Bob Haber, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025

No one wants to be fiddling with a teaspoon on the line at a busy restaurant during the dinner rush. —Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 8 Mar. 2025

Need to create a flowchart, org chart or floor plan but don’t want to spend hours fiddling with complicated software? —Carly Schnurr, Miami Herald, 3 Mar. 2025

Voters will grant him the leeway to fiddle with deficit rules. —Ido Vock, TIME, 22 Feb. 2025