dawdle
to waste time; idle; trifle; loiter: Stop dawdling and help me with these packages!
to move slowly, languidly, or dilatorily; saunter.
to waste (time) by or as if by trifling (usually followed by away): He dawdled away the whole morning.
Origin of dawdle
1synonym study For dawdle
Other words for dawdle
Other words from dawdle
- dawdler, noun
- daw·dling·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use dawdle in a sentence
Antisocial beings are almost always mentally and physically dawdlers, who are incapable of continuous mental or physical labour.
The Non-religion of the Future: A Sociological Study | Jean-Marie GuyauMeals could not be kept waiting for dawdlers, was the brutal explanation of the authorities.
Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons | Henry Charles MahoneyHow provokingly slowly the dawdlers of Vienna moved in comparison may be read in the chronicles of that time.
The Inside Story Of The Peace Conference | Emile Joseph DillonHalsey is nervously tapping his desk with the butt of his pencil and glancing at the dawdlers with ominous eyes.
From School to Battle-field | Charles KingI found a deal of slopping and sipping of tea going forward, and many dawdlers assembled.
Italy; with sketches of Spain and Portugal | William Beckford
British Dictionary definitions for dawdle
/ (ˈdɔːdəl) /
(intr) to be slow or lag behind
(when tr, often foll by away) to waste (time); trifle
Origin of dawdle
1Derived forms of dawdle
- dawdler, noun
- dawdlingly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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