Noun
the new boss quickly figured out who the do-nothings were and fired them
he indiscriminately dismisses the state legislators as a bunch of do-nothings who live at the taxpayers' expense
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
As for Xi’s refusal to do much in response to economic troubles in China, the view here is that his do-nothing stance reveals a level of sound economic knowledge that isn’t always evident in his critics.—John Tamny, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 Creative job crafting and simple nudges, such as encouraging do-nothing zone-out breaks, could help to alleviate the demands that modern workers experience that deplete their resources and block their recovery for feeling fresh and ready to engage with work the following day.—Melissa A. Wheeler, Forbes, 15 Feb. 2024 How many of those attacks are attributed to Harris’s do-nothing legislative agenda?—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 2 Feb. 2024 Black plays Malcolm, the latter's do-nothing, creative-type fiancé who can be seen scrambling down a long set of beach stairs in the wake of an embarrassing disclosure, or curating a destructive visual gag.—Erik Adams, EW.com, 18 July 2023 Jackie Calmes: 2023 was the year of the do-nothing House Republicans.—Shelby Grad, Los Angeles Times, 5 Jan. 2024 You drug pushers, hold-up men, and do-nothings . . .—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2023 In his view, Modi’s new design is a clever bid to present a do-nothing legislature to the public.—Daniel Brook, The New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2023 And these do-nothing Republicans are buttressed by their fossil fuel friends who have known for decades the climate and environmental risks of their vampiristic activities—and have kept on drilling anyway.—Prem Thakker, The New Republic, 19 July 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'do-nothing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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