What does fidget mean?
To fidget is to make small, restless movements — tapping fingers, shifting in a seat, twirling a pencil — typically because one is bored, anxious, impatient, or unable to stay still. As a verb it can be used absolutely ('children fidget when made to sit too long') or with an object ('she fidgeted with her necklace'). As a noun, it can denote a habitual fidgeter or a bout of restlessness, most familiarly in the informal expression 'to have the fidgets'. The word carries mildly negative connotations of impatience or lack of composure, though modern research on movement and attention has softened this view, suggesting fidgeting may help some people concentrate. Derived forms include 'fidgety' and 'fidgeting', and the word entered everyday prominence anew with the 'fidget spinner' craze of the late 2010s. It is standard in both British and American English.
To make small restless movements, typically through boredom, nervousness, or impatience; to move or play with something restlessly.
"Try not to fidget during the recital."
Often used with 'with' when referring to manipulating an object.
A person who fidgets habitually, or a state or fit of restlessness (usually in the plural, 'the fidgets').
"Waiting rooms always give me the fidgets."
Most commonly encountered in the informal plural idiom 'the fidgets', meaning a fit of restlessness. The countable plural ('fidgets') referring to individual restless movements is rare.
"The long ceremony gave everyone the fidgets."
The fidget spinner became a global craze in 2017 — but English speakers had been 'fidgeting' for over three centuries before that.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fidget
'Fidget' appeared in English around the early seventeenth century, most likely as a diminutive or frequentative form of the older verb 'fidge', which meant to twitch or fidget and is itself of uncertain, possibly imitative, origin. The suffix-like ending gives the word its sense of repeated, small-scale motion. Its derivative 'fidgety' followed soon after, and the word has remained a stable part of everyday English on both sides of the Atlantic since.
Related word forms
How fidget is actually used
Informal to neutral in register. The plural noun 'the fidgets' is an informal idiom meaning a state of nervous restlessness, common especially in British English ('I've got the fidgets'). Often used of children, though applicable to anyone.
Easily confused with fidget
Though spelled similarly and rhyming loosely, 'fridge' is simply a shortening of 'refrigerator', whereas 'fidget' refers to restless movement.