dawdle

[ dawd-l ]

/ ˈdɔd l /

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See synonyms for: dawdle / dawdled / dawdles / dawdling on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object), daw·dled, daw·dling.

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), daw·dled, daw·dling.

to waste (time) by or as if by trifling (usually followed by away): He dawdled away the whole morning.

OTHER WORDS FOR dawdle

3 fritter, putter, idle, trifle.

See synonyms for dawdle on Thesaurus.com

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of dawdle

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

synonym study for dawdle

1, 2. See loiter.

OTHER WORDS FROM dawdle

dawdler, noundaw·dling·ly, adverb

Words nearby dawdle

Davy lamp, Davys, daw, dawah, dawbake, dawdle, Dawes, Dawes Act of 1887, Dawes plan, dawk, Dawkins

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dawdle in a sentence

In thus dawdling away their time they show a strange inconsistency – at one and the same time loving indolence and hating peace.
Goths: Germanic Warriors Who Exposed The Roman Empire|Dattatreya Mandal|September 4, 2022|Realm of History
On Saturday, we continued to dawdle, weather-wise, through October.
Saturday seemed to suggest autumn, but a warmer one than average|Martin Weil|October 24, 2021|Washington Post
Weyman’s cloak-and-rapier swashbuckler is long — over 400 pages in my edition — but its action never dawdles.
Flashing blades, secret passages, mistaken identities: ‘A Gentleman of France’ is a classic adventure tale|Michael Dirda|September 1, 2021|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.
Senate Republicans are trying to drag out the stimulus process in the middle of a national emergency|Li Zhou|March 5, 2021|Vox

I wandered on down the corridor to the elevator, to dawdle and not run into coarrivals.
My Fabulous Life|Nicholas Haslam|November 14, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Why should they not dawdle at their labor sitting upon the fence in endless colloquy while the harvest rots upon the stalk?
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
After a big fit of work, I can dawdle against any one; then I get another fit of work—it's like appetite.
Villa Rubein and Other Stories|John Galsworthy
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.
Sinister Street, vol. 1|Compton Mackenzie
Tell your mother, and that poor dawdle there, your sister, that they 'd be thankful they'd have followed my advice.
Roland Cashel|Charles James Lever
They watched him as he passed up the pathway, with a stride and a swing so different from his ordinary listless dawdle.
Colonial Born|G. Firth Scott

British Dictionary definitions for dawdle

dawdle

/ (ˈdɔːdəl) /

verb

(intr) to be slow or lag behind

(when tr, often foll by away) to waste (time); trifle

Derived forms of dawdle

dawdler, noundawdlingly, adverb

Word Origin for dawdle

C17: of uncertain origin

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

dawdle

OTHER WORDS FOR dawdle

Origin of dawdle

synonym study for dawdle

OTHER WORDS FROM dawdle

Words nearby dawdle

Words related to dawdle

How to use dawdle in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for dawdle

Derived forms of dawdle

Word Origin for dawdle