putter
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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putters,
present (3rd person singular)
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puttered,
past participle, past
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puttering
present participle
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to busy or occupy oneself in a leisurely, casual, or ineffective manner.
to putter in the garden.
-
to move or go in a specified manner with ineffective action or little energy or purpose.
to putter about the house on a rainy day.
-
to move or go slowly or aimlessly; loiter.
noun
verb phrase
noun
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a person who putts.
-
a club with a relatively short, stiff shaft and a wooden or iron head, used in putting.
verb
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(intr;often foll by about or around) to busy oneself in a desultory though agreeable manner
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(intr;often foll by along or about) to move with little energy or direction
to putter about town
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to waste (time)
noun
noun
-
a club for putting, usually having a solid metal head
-
a golfer who putts
noun
-
a person who puts
the putter of a question
-
a person who puts the shot
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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puttersimple
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putterssimple
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have putteredperfect
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has putteredperfect
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am putteringprogressive
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are putteringprogressive
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is putteringprogressive
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have been putteringperfect progressive
-
has been putteringperfect progressive
Past
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putteredsimple
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had putteredperfect
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was putteringprogressive
-
were putteringprogressive
-
had been putteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of putter1
First recorded in 1825–30; variant of potter 2
Origin of putter2
First recorded in 1740–50; putt + -er 1
Origin of putter3
Explanation
A golfer who hits the ball very gently close to the hole is a putter. The club used to do this is also a putter. But to putter is to poke around aimlessly, maybe watch a little golf on TV. In golf, the putter is the club with the flat face, and sometimes with a slightly bent shaft. When you hit the ball with a putter, you putt. If you putter, it's something completely different — it means you make yourself busy without accomplishing anything huge. You might putter around the house on Saturday afternoon, filling the dishwasher and flipping through a magazine, for example. The golfing meaning comes from a Scottish word for "push or shove."
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:
It is an Achilles' heel that has dogged Scheffler before, but the PGA Tour has him as fifth-best putter, external on tour in 2026 - so it is certainly not a problem every week.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
“When I’m working, I just don’t cook at all basically, and then when I get time off I like to putter around in the kitchen. I’m not very good, but I like to do it.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026
They allow gimmes if the putt is within the shaft of your putter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 5, 2026
He said the past two weeks had boosted his confidence in his putter, and it certainly showed as he needed just 22 putts, gaining more than five strokes on the field on the greens.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
I putter along at 25 kph, the rover's top speed.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
The occasion often feels tacked-on amid the barbecues and the shiny putters trotted out like obligations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
So it makes sense that, despite all their girth and grunting, shot putters tend to be science geeks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2024
Chips from tight links turf required absolute precision, often putters were the correct option.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2024
A golf cart turned bullpen boat putters toward the infield to drop off the night’s starting pitcher at his place of work.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
As the rickshaw putters along the road, darting through traffic, I drag to my lips the question that's been stuck in my heart for so long.
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
After grabbing items for dinner at a Trader Joe’s, I puttered home along a main drag with a 35 mph limit, fully pressing the pedal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Simson's moped division puttered on after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall but eventually went bust in 2002.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
The previous record was set 90 years ago — only about three decades after the first cars puttered through Yosemite Valley.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
Things puttered along until Elfster’s big break, which came in 2009: Claire’s hired the company for a Secret Santa campaign.
From Slate ● Dec. 17, 2022
Monday through Saturday my mom worked in her office and puttered around her garden dressed like a homeless person.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
During communist days, chronic shortages and years-long waiting lists for cars like the puttering Trabant meant that mopeds and motorcycles became an indispensable way to get around.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
Shahed drones have been dubbed "flying mopeds" by Ukrainians because of their puttering engines.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2025
I would sometimes see him puttering around the library in our part of Arlington, Virginia.
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2025
Cortes would often walk from the homestead to Arvia to find his abuelito in the shed out back doing maintenance or puttering at his TV and radio repair business.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2024
This time the girl was puttering around in the kitchen when Cora kicked the pot against the wall.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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