loiter
Americanverb (used without object)
-
loiters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
loitered,
past participle, past
-
loitering
present participle
-
to linger aimlessly or as if aimless in or about a place.
to loiter around the bus terminal.
- Synonyms:
- loaf
-
to move in a slow, idle manner, making purposeless stops in the course of a trip, journey, errand, etc..
to loiter on the way to work.
-
to waste time or dawdle over work.
He loiters over his homework until one in the morning.
verb (used with object)
-
loiters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
loitered,
past participle, past
-
loitering
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
Loiter, dally, dawdle, idle imply moving or acting slowly, stopping for unimportant reasons, and in general wasting time. To loiter is to linger aimlessly: to loiter outside a building. To dally is to loiter indecisively or to delay as if free from care or responsibility: to dally on the way home. To dawdle is to saunter, stopping often, and taking a great deal of time, or to fritter away time working in a halfhearted way: to dawdle over a task. To idle is to move slowly and aimlessly, or to spend a great deal of time doing nothing: to idle away the hours.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
loitersimple
-
loiterssimple
-
have loiteredperfect
-
has loiteredperfect
-
am loiteringprogressive
-
are loiteringprogressive
-
is loiteringprogressive
-
have been loiteringperfect progressive
-
has been loiteringperfect progressive
Past
-
loiteredsimple
-
had loiteredperfect
-
was loiteringprogressive
-
were loiteringprogressive
-
had been loiteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of loiter
First recorded before 1300–50; Middle English loteren, loytren, perhaps from Middle Dutch loteren “to stagger, totter”; compare Dutch leuteren “to dawdle”
Explanation
To loiter is to hang around a place with no real purpose, usually somewhere where you are not welcome — like under the “No Loitering” sign at a convenience store. If you’re a dawdler, or a loafer, then you are probably inclined to loiter from time to time. The verb loiter is similar to “hang out,” but it has a more negative connotation and is sometimes associated with acting illegally. You might hang out at your friend’s house watching movies, but you would loiter by the vending machine at school when you are supposed be in class.
Vocabulary lists containing loiter
Fever 1793
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Ghost
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 19–24
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ramontez Bennett’s drone from Anduril Industries was supposed to loiter overhead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
We would loiter, mostly, and eat the shredded beef nachos that I still think about to this day while the plastic of our high-top Converse grilled on the scalding asphalt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
At a time when the most exciting films were 10 seconds of a train, bored teenagers probably would go berserk at the chance to loiter near an obelisk.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
During this phase, the spacecraft will follow a large "loiter" orbit that stretches roughly 2 million miles from Earth.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2026
I was never encouraged on those visits to loiter or linger about her desk.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Alexis Perez, 52, loiters beside the settlement where he typically spends two weeks straight, working 12-hour days before returning to his family.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
It says the vessel slows down when it approaches areas where there are wind farms and loiters in the area.
From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2023
Most days, Margaret — a musician with anger issues and the eldest of Christina’s three daughters — loiters just outside this boundary, occasionally helping Marion practice her singing.
From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2023
Besides being a novelty that loiters around your home, Amazon expects us to burden the Astro with tasks like elder care and home security.
From The Verge ● Oct. 2, 2021
Morris still loiters in Europe, chiefly in England; and Mr. Washington is still in correspondence with him.
From The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Volume III. 1791-1804 by Thomas Paine
She said he returned less than 24 hours later and loitered outside her house for hours.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
In the days, weeks and months leading up to the release of “Michael,” the one question that loitered at the top of my mind was why Jackson’s estate wasn’t content to leave well enough alone.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
He loitered in the streets with his friends and called them “my pippin.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
Border Patrol cops loitered on the sidewalks of a popular nightlife strip, where they got an earful from a passerby in a pink pointelle shirt.
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2025
We had a hurried conference out on the landing, then followed the rest of the class down the stairs and loitered just inside the main doorway.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
The sight of tankers loitering in the Sea of Azov off the north-eastern coast of occupied Crimea is common, as there is an onshore oil loading facility at Kerch port on the peninsula itself.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
“For privacy purposes, they’re not flying just in the sky and loitering, they’re responding at the onset of a call, usually through 9-1-1,” Warner said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
The Defense Department last week paid AeroVironment $186 million for the first procurement in a five-year, $990 million contract for its Switchblade loitering missile systems.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 2, 2026
Some were held on loitering charges, while others were detained over their perceived "incorrigibility."
From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026
And it made me feel better in some obscure way: imagining myself a hero, rushing fearlessly for the gun, instead of merely loitering in the bullet’s path like the bystander which I so essentially am.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
