at loose ends

Idioms  

1. In an unsettled or uncertain situation. For example, This whole visit has left me feeling restless, constantly at loose ends, or Jane couldn't find a job this year and so is at loose ends for the summer. [Mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

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at loose ends

Codex, a young woman at loose ends who finds community with a group of gamers whose quirkiness puts her own into perspective.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

And Mr. Neville gives us a sense—not only through the audio but also in the fragmented imagery and abbreviated sequencing—of a superstar at loose ends.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026

She soon finds a friend and travel companion in Gill, a British college student of about the same age and similarly at loose ends.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 3, 2022

The figures seem at loose ends, whether they’re standing still or wandering slowly and aimlessly.

From New York Times ● May 17, 2022

Once she tried to interest me in it, when I was thirteen and miserable and at loose ends.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood