stand around
phrasal verb
stood around; standing around; stands around
: to stand without doing anything
People were standing around waiting to get inside the theater.
Examples of stand around in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Already, there are cashiers just standing around during what is supposed to be the busiest shopping hour of the day.
—
Tovia Smith, NPR, 30 Oct. 2025
Seven or eight of his primary antagonists, including me, were all standing around when the idea came up, again.
—Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 26 Oct. 2025
Today, that figure stands around 2,000, the company said, noting that automation doesn’t necessarily mean total human elimination from workspaces.
—Meghan Hall, Sourcing Journal, 22 Oct. 2025
The only people standing around were those working on the project—a small, cosmopolitan crowd of Ivorian telecom officials, a Lebanese contractor with his two bright-yellow earthmovers, Greek cable technicians, an American ASN rep, and the Panamanian chief of a diving and welding company.
—Samanth Subramanian, The Dial, 14 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stand around
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Tovia Smith, NPR, 30 Oct. 2025
Seven or eight of his primary antagonists, including me, were all standing around when the idea came up, again.
—Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 26 Oct. 2025
Today, that figure stands around 2,000, the company said, noting that automation doesn’t necessarily mean total human elimination from workspaces.
—Meghan Hall, Sourcing Journal, 22 Oct. 2025
The only people standing around were those working on the project—a small, cosmopolitan crowd of Ivorian telecom officials, a Lebanese contractor with his two bright-yellow earthmovers, Greek cable technicians, an American ASN rep, and the Panamanian chief of a diving and welding company.
—Samanth Subramanian, The Dial, 14 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stand around
Cite this Entry
“Stand around.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stand%20around. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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