putter
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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putters,
present (3rd person singular)
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puttered,
past participle, past
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puttering
present participle
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to busy or occupy oneself in a leisurely, casual, or ineffective manner.
to putter in the garden.
-
to move or go in a specified manner with ineffective action or little energy or purpose.
to putter about the house on a rainy day.
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to move or go slowly or aimlessly; loiter.
noun
verb phrase
noun
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a person who putts.
-
a club with a relatively short, stiff shaft and a wooden or iron head, used in putting.
verb
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(intr;often foll by about or around) to busy oneself in a desultory though agreeable manner
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(intr;often foll by along or about) to move with little energy or direction
to putter about town
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to waste (time)
noun
noun
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a club for putting, usually having a solid metal head
-
a golfer who putts
noun
-
a person who puts
the putter of a question
-
a person who puts the shot
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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puttersimple
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putterssimple
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have putteredperfect
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has putteredperfect
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am putteringprogressive
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are putteringprogressive
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is putteringprogressive
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have been putteringperfect progressive
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has been putteringperfect progressive
Past
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putteredsimple
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had putteredperfect
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was putteringprogressive
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were putteringprogressive
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had been putteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of putter1
First recorded in 1825–30; variant of potter 2
Origin of putter2
First recorded in 1740–50; putt + -er 1
Origin of putter3
Explanation
A golfer who hits the ball very gently close to the hole is a putter. The club used to do this is also a putter. But to putter is to poke around aimlessly, maybe watch a little golf on TV. In golf, the putter is the club with the flat face, and sometimes with a slightly bent shaft. When you hit the ball with a putter, you putt. If you putter, it's something completely different — it means you make yourself busy without accomplishing anything huge. You might putter around the house on Saturday afternoon, filling the dishwasher and flipping through a magazine, for example. The golfing meaning comes from a Scottish word for "push or shove."
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:
Harrington, the 2026 US Senior Open champion, drove the ball well but was let down by indifferent iron play and a cool putter.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
“When I’m working, I just don’t cook at all basically, and then when I get time off I like to putter around in the kitchen. I’m not very good, but I like to do it.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026
And as Rai’s putter heated up, including with a 68-footer for birdie on No. 17, he built a three-stroke margin of victory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
He said the past two weeks had boosted his confidence in his putter, and it certainly showed as he needed just 22 putts, gaining more than five strokes on the field on the greens.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
Out of the corners of his eyes he watched her go to the stove and putter with pots and pans.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
The occasion often feels tacked-on amid the barbecues and the shiny putters trotted out like obligations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Within 12 months, Scheffler had risen into the top 15 putters and completed a remarkable season, winning seven PGA Tour events, including a second Masters, and an Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025
So it makes sense that, despite all their girth and grunting, shot putters tend to be science geeks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2024
She said she keeps it in a rifle case because putters can bend during travel.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 19, 2023
Shot putters have to throw the shot as far as they can.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
A group of women in floral dresses puttered out to meet the Warrior on a bum-bum, an inboard motorboat.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025
In fact, I was gulping some of the Sailing Goat’s excellent clam chowder when my innkeepers’ 22-foot boat puttered up to the dock.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2024
The all-terrain vehicle puttered down a winding dirt road shaded by mature Douglas fir and cedar, with sword ferns and vine maple brushing the sides of the cart along the way.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2023
The train slowed, began moving again, slowed once more and then “just puttered to a stop,” she said.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2021
Milligan, disguised as a gray-haired gardener in a straw hat, puttered gloomily about the iron fence, tending to the rose bushes.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
Shahed drones have been dubbed "flying mopeds" by Ukrainians because of their puttering engines.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2025
Cortes would often walk from the homestead to Arvia to find his abuelito in the shed out back doing maintenance or puttering at his TV and radio repair business.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2024
When you’re puttering around town, however, the Mercedes is the smoother of the two.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
The company’s aesthetically questionable but easily slipped-on clogs were the perfect footwear for Americans puttering around their homes, gardens and kitchens during quarantine.
From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2023
That day Mrs. Cadaver was home, puttering around her garden.
From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech
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.
