fiddle – English verb conjugation

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to fiddle about with sth
Participle: fiddled about with sth
Gerund: fiddling about with sth

Cognates

-

Indicative

Present

I	fiddle about with sth
you	fiddle about with sth
he;she;it	fiddles about with sth
we	fiddle about with sth
you	fiddle about with sth
they	fiddle about with sth

Perfect

I	have fiddled about with sth
you	have fiddled about with sth
he;she;it	has fiddled about with sth
we	have fiddled about with sth
you	have fiddled about with sth
they	have fiddled about with sth

Past

I	fiddled about with sth
you	fiddled about with sth
he;she;it	fiddled about with sth
we	fiddled about with sth
you	fiddled about with sth
they	fiddled about with sth

Pluperfect

I	had fiddled about with sth
you	had fiddled about with sth
he;she;it	had fiddled about with sth
we	had fiddled about with sth
you	had fiddled about with sth
they	had fiddled about with sth

Future

I	will fiddle about with sth
you	will fiddle about with sth
he;she;it	will fiddle about with sth
we	will fiddle about with sth
you	will fiddle about with sth
they	will fiddle about with sth

Future Perfect

I	will have fiddled about with sth
you	will have fiddled about with sth
he;she;it	will have fiddled about with sth
we	will have fiddled about with sth
you	will have fiddled about with sth
they	will have fiddled about with sth

Subjunctive

Present

I	fiddle about with sth
you	fiddle about with sth
he;she;it	fiddle about with sth
we	fiddle about with sth
you	fiddle about with sth
they	fiddle about with sth

Perfect

I	have fiddled about with sth
you	have fiddled about with sth
he;she;it	have fiddled about with sth
we	have fiddled about with sth
you	have fiddled about with sth
they	have fiddled about with sth

Imperfect

I	fiddled about with sth
you	fiddled about with sth
he;she;it	fiddled about with sth
we	fiddled about with sth
you	fiddled about with sth
they	fiddled about with sth

Pluperfect

I	had fiddled about with sth
you	had fiddled about with sth
he;she;it	had fiddled about with sth
we	had fiddled about with sth
you	had fiddled about with sth
they	had fiddled about with sth

Conditional

Present

I	would fiddle about with sth
you	would fiddle about with sth
he;she;it	would fiddle about with sth
we	would fiddle about with sth
you	would fiddle about with sth
they	would fiddle about with sth

Perfect

I	would have fiddled about with sth
you	would have fiddled about with sth
he;she;it	would have fiddled about with sth
we	would have fiddled about with sth
you	would have fiddled about with sth
they	would have fiddled about with sth

Imperative

you	fiddle about with sth
we	Let's fiddle about with sth
you	fiddle about with sth

Indicative

Present

I	am fiddling about with sth
you	are fiddling about with sth
he;she;it	is fiddling about with sth
we	are fiddling about with sth
you	are fiddling about with sth
they	are fiddling about with sth

Perfect

I	have been fiddling about with sth
you	have been fiddling about with sth
he;she;it	has been fiddling about with sth
we	have been fiddling about with sth
you	have been fiddling about with sth
they	have been fiddling about with sth

Past

I	was fiddling about with sth
you	were fiddling about with sth
he;she;it	was fiddling about with sth
we	were fiddling about with sth
you	were fiddling about with sth
they	were fiddling about with sth

Pluperfect

I	had been fiddling about with sth
you	had been fiddling about with sth
he;she;it	had been fiddling about with sth
we	had been fiddling about with sth
you	had been fiddling about with sth
they	had been fiddling about with sth

Future

I	will be fiddling about with sth
you	will be fiddling about with sth
he;she;it	will be fiddling about with sth
we	will be fiddling about with sth
you	will be fiddling about with sth
they	will be fiddling about with sth

Future Perfect

I	will have been fiddling about with sth
you	will have been fiddling about with sth
he;she;it	will have been fiddling about with sth
we	will have been fiddling about with sth
you	will have been fiddling about with sth
they	will have been fiddling about with sth

Conditional

Present

I	would be fiddling about with sth
you	would be fiddling about with sth
he;she;it	would be fiddling about with sth
we	would be fiddling about with sth
you	would be fiddling about with sth
they	would be fiddling about with sth

Perfect

I	would have been fiddling about with sth
you	would have been fiddling about with sth
he;she;it	would have been fiddling about with sth
we	would have been fiddling about with sth
you	would have been fiddling about with sth
they	would have been fiddling about with sth

Verbs conjugated like 'fiddle'

abacinate, abalienate, abase, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, abduce, aberrate, aberuncate, abirritate, abjudge, abjudicate, abjugate, abjure, ablactate, ablaqueate, able, ablegate, abligate, abnegate, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)

Verbs similar to 'fiddle'

diddle, faddle, feddle, fuddle, hiddle, middle, piddle, riddle, tiddle, widdle,

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

dabble: tinker, putter, play, potter, toy, trifle, busy

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

~ about, ~ around, ~ about with something, ~ around with something, ~ away something, ~ something away,

Etymology

1. O.E. fiðele, related to O.N. fiðla, M.Du. vedele, Ger. Fiedel, all probably from M.L. vitula "stringed instrument," perhaps related to L. vitularia "celebrate joyfully," from Vitula, Roman goddess of joy and victory, who probably, like her name, originated among the Sabines. The verb is from 1377; the fig. sense of "to act idly" is from 1530. The word has been relegated to colloquial usage by its more proper cousin, violin (q.v.), a process encouraged by phraseology such as fiddlestick (15c., originally "the bow of a fiddle;" meaning "nonsense" is from 1621) and fiddle-faddle (1577), which is unrelated, being a reduplication of obsolete faddle "to trifle." Fiddler's Green first recorded 1825, from sailors' slang. Fiddler crab is from 1714. Fiddle-head "one with a head as hollow as a fiddle" is from 1887. Fit as a fiddle is from 1616.
2. From Middle English fithele, from Old English *fiþele, from Proto-West Germanic *fiþulā, from Proto-Germanic *fiþulǭ (“fiddle”), of uncertain etymology. Some contest that the Germanic terms are borrowed variations of Late Latin vitula (see viola); others contest that the word has a separate origin within Germanic languages, and still others believe that the Late Latin term for the stringed instrument is a borrowing from Germanic as a change of Latin t to Germanic þ is highly improbable, yet Germanic þ to Latin t is well documented (see troop, trousers, Teobaldo, etc.). Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch vedel, veel), Old Norse fiðla (Icelandic fiðla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian fela, Swedish fela).
3. The change from /ðl/ to /dl/ in modern English is regular; compare Bedlam, staddle, swaddle (in brothel, it was prevented; see that entry for discussion). See: Icelandic 'fiðla', Swedish 'fela'.

Verbs referencing "fiddle"

English feddle.

Sample Sentences

to fiddle while Rome burns
Themistocles […] said he could not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city. [1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:]
Fred was sacked when the auditors caught him fiddling the books.
Sit up straight and stop fiddling!
Loke you fydell nat with your handes whan your maister speketh to you. [1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, page 549:]
[…] talking, and fiddling with their hats and feathers […] [1663 July 22 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “July 13th, 1663 (Lord’s Day)”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume III, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC:]
Yossarian went along in Milo Minderbinder's speeding M & M staff car to police headquarters to meet a swarthy, untidy police commissioner with a narrow black mustache and unbuttoned tunic who was fiddling with a stout woman with warts and two chins when they entered his office and who greeted Milo with warm surprise and bowed and scraped in obscene servility as though Milo were some elegant marquis. [1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 425:]
I don't exactly know how to fix this lawnmower; I'm really just fiddling.
A cake-seller told me that a little while before I saw him a lad of twelve or so had consumed a shilling’s worth of cakes and pastry, as he had got a shilling by “fiddling;” not, be it understood, by the exercise of any musical skill, for “fiddling,” among the initiated, means the holding of horses, or the performing of any odd jobs. [1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:]

fiddle – English verb conjugation

English verb forms of fiddle

Nominal Forms

Cognates

Indicative

Present

Perfect

Past

Pluperfect

Future

Future Perfect

Subjunctive

Present

Perfect

Imperfect

Pluperfect

Conditional

Present

Perfect

Imperative

Progressive (Continuous) Forms

Indicative

Present

Perfect

Past

Pluperfect

Future

Future Perfect

Conditional

Present

Perfect

Other

Verbs conjugated like 'fiddle'

Verbs similar to 'fiddle'

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

Verbs referencing "fiddle"

Sample Sentences