dawdle

[ dawd-l ]

verb (used without object)

, daw·dled, daw·dling.

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)

, daw·dled, daw·dling.

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

   He dawdled away the whole morning.

   Synonyms: trifle, idle, putter, fritter

dawdle

/ ˈdɔːdəl /

verb

1. intr to be slow or lag behind
2. whentr, often foll by away to waste (time); trifle

Derived Forms

• ˈdawdlingly, adverb
• ˈdawdler, noun

Other Words From

• dawdler noun
• dawdling·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of dawdle¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of dawdle¹

C17: of uncertain origin

Synonym Study

See loiter.

Example Sentences

In thus dawdling away their time they show a strange inconsistency – at one and the same time loving indolence and hating peace.

From Realm of History

On Saturday, we continued to dawdle, weather-wise, through October.

From Washington Post

Weyman’s cloak-and-rapier swashbuckler is long — over 400 pages in my edition — but its action never dawdles.

From Washington Post

Many Republicans, meanwhile, seem perfectly open to dawdling on the legislation despite the critical support it would provide to many people currently in need.

From Vox

I wandered on down the corridor to the elevator, to dawdle and not run into coarrivals.

From The Daily Beast

Why should they not dawdle at their labor sitting upon the fence in endless colloquy while the harvest rots upon the stalk?

From Project Gutenberg

After a big fit of work, I can dawdle against any one; then I get another fit of work—it's like appetite.

From Project Gutenberg

You've no idea how beastly it is to dawdle about in a crowd of people, and then at the end go back to another term of school.

From Project Gutenberg

Tell your mother, and that poor dawdle there, your sister, that they 'd be thankful they'd have followed my advice.

From Project Gutenberg

They watched him as he passed up the pathway, with a stride and a swing so different from his ordinary listless dawdle.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• laze
• loiter
• mosey
• procrastinate
• saunter