idle — OAT · Shobdo

idle

adjective

1 an idle fellow:

lazy, indolent, slothful, work-shy, shiftless, loafing, inactive, inert, sluggish, lethargic, languorous, listless, torpid;

remiss, negligent, slack, lax, lackadaisical, impassive, good-for-nothing, do-nothing;

leisurely;

informal bone idle;

French, archaic fainéant;

rare otiose.

▷antonyms industrious.

2 “I was getting bored with being idle,” she told her new employer:

unemployed, jobless, out of work, out of a job, between jobs, workless, unwaged, unoccupied;

British redundant;

British, informal on the dole, signing on;

British, euphemistic resting;

Australian, New Zealand, informal on the wallaby track.

▷antonyms employed.

3 instead of leaving the machine idle, I sold it:

not in use, out of use, not operating, not working, inactive, out of action, inoperative, nonfunctioning, out of service, unused, unoccupied, unemployed;

disused, no longer in use, fallen into disuse, mothballed.

▷antonyms working.

4 they filled their idle hours with endless gossiping sessions:

unoccupied, spare, empty, vacant, unfilled, available.

▷antonyms busy; full.

5 he didn't indulge in idle remarks or mere social chitchat:

frivolous, trivial, trifling, minor, petty, foolish, lightweight, shallow, superficial, insignificant, unimportant, worthless, valueless, pointless, paltry, niggling, peripheral, without depth, inane, fatuous, senseless, meaningless, purposeless, unnecessary, time-wasting.

▷antonyms serious; meaningful.

6 she was not a woman to make idle threats:

empty, meaningless, aimless, pointless, worthless, useless, vain, in vain, insubstantial, futile, ineffective, ineffectual;

groundless, without grounds, baseless, without/lacking foundation.

▷antonyms serious.

verb

1 Lily idled on the window seat: she hated Sundays:

do nothing, be inactive, vegetate, sit back, take it easy, rest on one's oars, mark time, kick one's heels, twiddle one's thumbs, kill time, languish, laze (around), lounge (around), loll (around), loaf (around), slouch (around);

go to seed, degenerate, molder, stagnate;

informal hang around, veg out;

British, informal mooch about, mooch around, slummock;

North American, informal bum around, bat around, lollygag, lay on one's oars.

2 the men idled their time away on street corners:

fritter, while, laze, loiter;

pass, spend, use, employ, use up, occupy, take up, fill up, fill in, fill, beguile, expend, devote, waste, dissipate, kill.

3 Robert idled along the sidewalk:

saunter, stroll, dawdle, drift, putter, amble, go/walk slowly, loiter, maunder, wander, straggle;

informal mosey, tootle;

British, informal pootle, mooch, swan.

4 he slowed the car at a junction, letting the engine idle:

tick over, run slowly in neutral.

word links	idle
thassophobia fear of being idle

choose the right word	idle, lazy, indolent
See lazy.