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Synonyms

dawdle

American  
[dawd-l] / ˈdɔd l /

verb (used without object)

dawdled, dawdling

  1. to waste time; idle; trifle; loiter.

    Stop dawdling and help me with these packages!

  2. to move slowly, languidly, or dilatorily; saunter.

verb (used with object)

dawdled, dawdling

  1. to waste (time) by or as if by trifling (usually followed byaway ).

    He dawdled away the whole morning.
    Synonyms:
    trifle, idle, putter, fritter
dawdle British  
/ ˈdɔːdəl /

verb

  1. (intr) to be slow or lag behind

  2. to waste (time); trifle

"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

Related Words

See loiter.

Other Word Forms

  • dawdler noun
  • dawdlingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of dawdle

First recorded in 1650–60; variant of daddle “to toddle”

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.