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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dangle.

To hang loosely with the ability to swing.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈdæŋ.ɡəl/[ˈdæŋ.ɡl̩]/ˈdeɪ̯ŋ.ɡəl/[ˈdeɪ̯ŋ.ɡl̩]
  1. To hang loosely with the ability to swing.

    intransitive
    His feet are dangling in the water.
  2. 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.

    intransitive · slang
    He dangled around three players and the goalie to score.
  3. To hang or trail something loosely.

    transitive
    I like to sit on the edge and dangle my feet in the water.
  4. To put forth as a possibility.

    broadly · figuratively · transitive
  5. To trail or follow around.

    dated · intransitive
  6. Of a patient: to be positioned with the legs hanging over the edge of the bed.

    intransitive
  7. To position (a patient) in this way.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Uncertain, but likely of North Germanic origin, akin to Danish dingle, dangle, Swedish dangla (“to swing about”), Norwegian dangla, perhaps via North Frisian dangeln; all possibly related to Old Norse dengja (“to hit”).

noun/ˈdæŋ.ɡəl/[ˈdæŋ.ɡl̩]/ˈdeɪ̯ŋ.ɡəl/[ˈdeɪ̯ŋ.ɡl̩]
  1. An agent of one intelligence agency or group who pretends to be interested in defecting or turning to another intelligence agency or group.

  2. The action of dangling; a series of complex stick tricks and fakes in order to defeat the defender in style.

    slang
    That was a sick dangle for a great goal!
  3. A dangling ornament or decoration.

Where this word comes from

Uncertain, but likely of North Germanic origin, akin to Danish dingle, dangle, Swedish dangla (“to swing about”), Norwegian dangla, perhaps via North Frisian dangeln; all possibly related to Old Norse dengja (“to hit”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.