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.

It was twiddling its thumbs in the back.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 23, 2022

Her mother had advanced cancer and Distant was twiddling her thumbs overseas, judging her mother's health-care choices from her remote perch.

From Washington Post • Jun. 13, 2018

"When in fact, what they were doing was twiddling their thumbs and moving pixels around a screen."

From BBC • Sep. 16, 2013

“I was injured, and then I was twiddling my thumbs at home,” Williams, 28, said last week.

From New York Times • May 24, 2010

Anyhoo, when this thing started, I was twiddling my thumbs on the couch nearest the piano and thinking it was too late to do my fingernails and whoever came in probably wouldn't notice them anyway.

From The Big Time by Leiber, Fritz