Another word for loiter
a-z
Verb
To go or move slowly so that progress is hindered
- To allow to drag or stream behind, as along the ground:
- To drag (the body, for example) wearily or heavily.
- To follow the traces or scent of, as in hunting; track.
- To delay or be late in going, coming, or doing something:
- To wait or stay temporarily:
- To wait for; await.
- To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.
- To postpone or delay needlessly.
- To push or jab at, as with a finger or an arm; prod.
- To make (a hole or pathway, for example) by or as if by prodding, elbowing, or jabbing:
- To push; thrust:
- To stay in a place or be slow in leaving it, often out of reluctance:
- To continue or persist:
- To remain feebly alive for some time before dying.
- To fail to keep up a pace; straggle:
- To proceed or develop with comparative slowness:
- To weaken or slacken; flag:
- To pull along with difficulty or effort; haul:
- To cause to trail along a surface, especially the ground:
- To move (a pointing device, such as a mouse) while pressing down on one of its buttons.
- To waste time, especially in indecision; dawdle or vacillate.
- To postpone until a later time; defer.
- To cause to be later or slower than expected or desired:
- To act or move slowly; put off an action or a decision.
- To take more time than necessary:
- To move aimlessly or lackadaisically:
- To waste (time) by idling:
- To play amorously; flirt:
- To consider or occupy oneself with something in a careless or unserious fashion; toy.
- To dawdle, delay, or linger:
See also:To pass time without working or in avoiding work
- An incompetent, foolish, or stupid person.
- A careless mistake; a slip.
- To make a silly mistake; blunder:
- A person, especially a soldier, who avoids assigned duties or work; a shirker.
- To shirk one's assigned duties or responsibilities.
- To cheat; swindle.
- To cheat; swindle:
- To avoid or neglect (a duty or responsibility).
- To avoid work or duty.
- To move or act in a lazy, relaxed way; loll:
- To pass time idly:
- To pass (time) in a lazy, relaxed, or idle way:
- A shaped mass of bread baked in one piece.
- A shaped, usually rounded or oblong, mass of food:
- To be idle; loaf:
- To spend (time) loafing:
- Not employed or busy:
- Disinclined to work or be active; lazy:
- Not in use or operation:
- A tramp; a vagrant.
- A lazy or shiftless person, especially one who seeks to live solely by the support of others.
- An incompetent, insignificant, or obnoxious person:
See also:
© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Another word for loiter
Verb
-
- (intransitive, idiomatic, slang) To spend time doing nothing in particular.
- To move about aimlessly:
- To walk casually or leisurely:
- To follow an irregularly winding course of motion or growth:
- A piece of cloth, usually rectangular, of distinctive color and design, used as a symbol, standard, signal, or emblem.
- National or other allegiance, as symbolized by a flag:
- A ship carrying the flag of an admiral; a flagship.
- To pull along with difficulty or effort; haul:
- To cause to trail along a surface, especially the ground:
- To move (a pointing device, such as a mouse) while pressing down on one of its buttons.
- To allow to drag or stream behind, as along the ground:
- To drag (the body, for example) wearily or heavily.
- To follow the traces or scent of, as in hunting; track.
- To make or become slower; slow down:
- To make or become less tense, taut, or firm; loosen:
- To make or become less vigorous, intense, or severe; ease:
- To walk slowly or leisurely; stroll.
- To move along at an easy gait by using both legs on one side alternately with both on the other. Used of a horse.
- An unhurried or leisurely walk.
- To procrastinate.
- To be unable to come to a decision; vacillate.
- To spend time on insignificant things; dawdle.
- to waste time in hesitation or vacillation; loiter or dawdle
- To cease or suspend an action temporarily:
- To hesitate:
- To linger; tarry:
- To remain floating, suspended, or fluttering in the air:
- To remain or linger in or near a place:
- To remain in an uncertain state; waver:
- To remain or rest in expectation:
- To stay in one place until another catches up:
- To remain or be in readiness:
- To move, stand, or recline in an indolent or relaxed manner.
- To hang or droop laxly:
- To permit to hang or droop laxly:
- To delay or be late in going, coming, or doing something:
- To wait or stay temporarily:
- To wait for; await.
- To move or act in a lazy, relaxed way; loll:
- To pass time idly:
- To pass (time) in a lazy, relaxed, or idle way:
- A shaped mass of bread baked in one piece.
- A shaped, usually rounded or oblong, mass of food:
- To walk in an awkward, lazy, or unsteady manner, shuffling the feet.
- A shuffling gait.
- To walk or tramp about; gad:
- To walk or tramp over or about:
- A tiring walk.
- To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.
- To postpone or delay needlessly.
- A short golf club used for putting.
- A golfer who is putting.
- To allow time to elapse in an unproductive manner.
- To move with short sliding steps, without or barely lifting the feet:
- To dance casually with sliding and tapping steps.
- To shift from position to position or move from place to place:
- To postpone until a later time; defer.
- To cause to be later or slower than expected or desired:
- To act or move slowly; put off an action or a decision.
- To go for a leisurely walk:
- To travel from place to place seeking work or gain.
- To walk along or through at a leisurely pace:
- To walk at a leisurely pace; stroll.
- A leisurely pace.
- A leisurely walk or stroll.
- To fail to keep up a pace; straggle:
- To proceed or develop with comparative slowness:
- To weaken or slacken; flag:
- Not employed or busy:
- Disinclined to work or be active; lazy:
- Not in use or operation:
- To play amorously; flirt:
- To consider or occupy oneself with something in a careless or unserious fashion; toy.
- To dawdle, delay, or linger:
- To take more time than necessary:
- To move aimlessly or lackadaisically:
- To waste (time) by idling:
- To stay in a place or be slow in leaving it, often out of reluctance:
- To continue or persist:
- To remain feebly alive for some time before dying.
See also:Antonyms:
Synonym Study
- Idle suggests habitual avoidance of work, or inactivity, indolence, etc. to idle away the hours
- Dally suggests spending time in trifling or frivolous pursuits or in indecision
- Dawdle implies a wasting of time over trifles or a frittering away of time that makes for slow progress to dawdle over a cup of tea
- Loiter implies aimlessness or slowness of movement and may suggest a wasting of time in lingering or lagging to loiter around street corners
© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.