loiter
Americanverb (used without object)
-
loiters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
loitered,
past participle, past
-
loitering
present participle
-
to linger aimlessly or as if aimless in or about a place.
to loiter around the bus terminal.
- Synonyms:
- loaf
-
to move in a slow, idle manner, making purposeless stops in the course of a trip, journey, errand, etc..
to loiter on the way to work.
-
to waste time or dawdle over work.
He loiters over his homework until one in the morning.
verb (used with object)
-
loiters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
loitered,
past participle, past
-
loitering
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
Loiter, dally, dawdle, idle imply moving or acting slowly, stopping for unimportant reasons, and in general wasting time. To loiter is to linger aimlessly: to loiter outside a building. To dally is to loiter indecisively or to delay as if free from care or responsibility: to dally on the way home. To dawdle is to saunter, stopping often, and taking a great deal of time, or to fritter away time working in a halfhearted way: to dawdle over a task. To idle is to move slowly and aimlessly, or to spend a great deal of time doing nothing: to idle away the hours.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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loitersimple
-
loiterssimple
-
have loiteredperfect
-
has loiteredperfect
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am loiteringprogressive
-
are loiteringprogressive
-
is loiteringprogressive
-
have been loiteringperfect progressive
-
has been loiteringperfect progressive
Past
-
loiteredsimple
-
had loiteredperfect
-
was loiteringprogressive
-
were loiteringprogressive
-
had been loiteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of loiter
First recorded before 1300–50; Middle English loteren, loytren, perhaps from Middle Dutch loteren “to stagger, totter”; compare Dutch leuteren “to dawdle”
Explanation
To loiter is to hang around a place with no real purpose, usually somewhere where you are not welcome — like under the “No Loitering” sign at a convenience store. If you’re a dawdler, or a loafer, then you are probably inclined to loiter from time to time. The verb loiter is similar to “hang out,” but it has a more negative connotation and is sometimes associated with acting illegally. You might hang out at your friend’s house watching movies, but you would loiter by the vending machine at school when you are supposed be in class.
Vocabulary lists containing loiter
Fever 1793
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Ghost
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 19–24
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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:
At a time when the most exciting films were 10 seconds of a train, bored teenagers probably would go berserk at the chance to loiter near an obelisk.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
As with every technology, satellites have their limitations: They are not particularly helpful on days of thick cloud cover, which is much of the winter in Ukraine, and can’t loiter over a moving target.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
During this phase, the spacecraft will follow a large "loiter" orbit that stretches roughly 2 million miles from Earth.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2026
It’s paired with increasingly frequent cleaning, more transit officers and a sweeping of the cars, so passengers don’t loiter or pass out on the seats.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2024
But with Ritchie, Marv, and Audrey, I know them all far too well to loiter around their houses.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
Alexis Perez, 52, loiters beside the settlement where he typically spends two weeks straight, working 12-hour days before returning to his family.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Polaris, the North Star, loiters at the end of the dipper’s handle.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 27, 2023
Seemingly intent on not losing her, McSweeney follows the woman into a shop, then loiters outside until she emerges.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2022
Besides being a novelty that loiters around your home, Amazon expects us to burden the Astro with tasks like elder care and home security.
From The Verge ● Oct. 2, 2021
Nature reaches her ends by devious paths; she loiters, she meanders, she plays by the way; she surely "arrives," but it is always in a blind, hesitating, experimental kind of fashion.
From Ways of Nature by John Burroughs
In the days, weeks and months leading up to the release of “Michael,” the one question that loitered at the top of my mind was why Jackson’s estate wasn’t content to leave well enough alone.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
He loitered in the streets with his friends and called them “my pippin.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
A small, wiry, pockmarked young man with curly hair and a hard-to-place accent, he loitered in the area for hours, asking kitchen workers if his target would be coming that way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025
Grindset impresario and assiduous podcast guest Scott Galloway loitered by the back bar.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2024
They loitered under the portico at the top of the wide steps.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
The sight of tankers loitering in the Sea of Azov off the north-eastern coast of occupied Crimea is common, as there is an onshore oil loading facility at Kerch port on the peninsula itself.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Over the past week, the ship broadcast that it was loitering off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to maritime-data firm Kpler.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
We just saw crows, loitering on fence posts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
AeroVironment’s Switchblade guidable, loitering munitions came to prominence in the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine.
From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026
And it made me feel better in some obscure way: imagining myself a hero, rushing fearlessly for the gun, instead of merely loitering in the bullet’s path like the bystander which I so essentially am.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
