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faff

British

/ fæf /

verb

informal to dither or fuss

"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

Etymology

Origin of faff

C19: of obscure origin

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.

"I fret, she doesn't faff, she's really patient with my fretting and I love her non-faffing. We really do get on incredibly well," he says.

From BBC • Aug. 29, 2025

"I feel brilliant once I've done it and I love it and could chat all day about it but before it - we do faff a lot," she said.

From BBC • Feb. 12, 2023

There’s not a lot of faff on it.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 20, 2021

Tracking periods never seemed easy: I was too busy; it was always a faff.

From The Guardian • Mar. 10, 2020

My dad says real fires are more faff than they're worth, but Dean's dad says in a Tavish McTavish voice, “Neeever buy ye a hoose wi'oot a chimberly pot.”

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023