dawdle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to waste time; idle; trifle; loiter.
Stop dawdling and help me with these packages!
-
to move slowly, languidly, or dilatorily; saunter.
verb (used with object)
verb
-
(intr) to be slow or lag behind
-
to waste (time); trifle
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”
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.
In France's tournament opener, after their heavy brigade had bashed away at a stubborn Wales defence for 12 phases, Dupont picked up the ball and dawdled sideways and backwards off the back of the breakdown.
From BBC
She has set a six-minute daily time limit as a reminder not to dawdle on Instagram.
From Seattle Times
While these cities dawdle, the region’s residents suffer the effects of the housing shortage: high rents, overcrowding, eviction and homelessness.
From Los Angeles Times
The confidence of the Russian military reflected the Kremlin’s knowledge that Ukraine’s ammunition supplies were dwindling as the U.S. dawdled over approving more military aid.
From Seattle Times
Not yet knowing what I was in for, though, I dawdled, thinking the journey too far and impractical, until I finally relented about 20 hours before totality over Idaho.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
