loiter
Americanverb (used without object)
-
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)
verb
Related Words
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
- loiterer noun
- loitering noun
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”
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.
They can loiter over the battlefield as long as 20 hours on a single tank of fuel, allowing them to wait for mobile missile launchers to emerge from hiding and then strike them.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 16, 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
In the Plus bonus mini-episode: Starbucks wanted to be a classy Italian espresso house, but it became a modern milkshake shop for teens to loiter and flirt.
From Slate • Oct. 19, 2024
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
It gives us a reason to loiter in the area.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
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.
