idle time

British

noun

commerce time during which a machine or a worker could be working but is not, as when one job has been completed and tooling or materials for the next are not complete or available Compare downtime

"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

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idle time

Pay for idle time between orders is a major industry flashpoint.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

I wasn’t balling out of control, but I had some disposable income and idle time.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025

Even if this is true, understaffing leads to neglect in rehabilitation and excessive idle time.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2025

The phone for her is a distraction limited to idle time, which has been strategically limited by Romero.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2024

Over the past month or so Tree-ear had filled his idle time by molding clay.

From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park

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