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dawdle

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of dawdle

1 to move or act slowly

  • if you continue to dawdle, weʼll be late for sure
Synonyms of dawdle

crawl, creep, dally, delay, diddle, dillydally, drag, lag, linger, loiter, lollygag (also lallygag), mope, poke, shilly-shally, tarry
Words Related to dawdle

fiddle (around), fool around, mess around, monkey (around), play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle

hang (around or out), idle, loaf, loll, lounge

amble, ease, inch, lumber, plod, saunter, shuffle, stagger, stroll

decelerate, slow (down or up)

filibuster, procrastinate, stall, temporize
Phrases Synonymous with dawdle

drag one's feet (also drag one's heels), drop behind, fall behind, hang fire, mark time, take one's time
Near Antonyms of dawdle

bowl, breeze, dart, hump, hurtle, hustle, scramble, stampede

gallop, jog, run, sprint, trot

accelerate, quicken, speed (up)

catch up, fast-forward, outpace, outrun, outstrip, overtake
Antonyms of dawdle

barrel, bolt, career, course, dash, fly, hasten, hotfoot (it), hurry, race, rip, rocket, run, rush, scoot, scud, scurry, speed, tear, whirl, whisk, whiz (or whizz), zip

2 to spend time doing nothing

  • accused the city council of dawdling even as the crime rate was spiraling out of control
Synonyms of dawdle

bum, chill, dally, dillydally, drone, footle, goof (off), hack (around), hang (around or out), hang about [British], idle, kick around, kick back, laze, lazy, loaf, loll, lounge, veg out
Words Related to dawdle

fiddle (around), fool, mess, monkey, muck, piddle, play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle

doze, estivate (also aestivate), hibernate

lag, linger, loiter, poke, relax, rest, tarry

amble, mosey, saunter, stroll, swan

furlough, goldbrick, malinger, truant
Phrases Synonymous with dawdle

kill time, twiddle one's thumbs
Near Antonyms of dawdle

drudge, grind, grub, hump, hustle, labor, moil, peg, plod, plow, plug, slave, sweat, toil, travail, work

apply, buckle (down)

exert, put out

Synonym Discussion of dawdle

delay, procrastinate, lag, loiter, dawdle, dally mean to move or act slowly so as to fall behind. delay usually implies a putting off of something (such as a beginning or departure).
    • we cannot delay any longer
procrastinate implies blameworthy delay especially through laziness or apathy.
    • procrastinates about making decisions
lag implies failure to maintain a speed set by others.
    • lagging behind in technology
loiter and dawdle imply delay while in progress, especially in walking, but dawdle more clearly suggests an aimless wasting of time.
    • loitered at several store windows
    • children dawdling on their way home from school
dally suggests delay through trifling or vacillation when promptness is necessary.
    • stop dallying and get to work

Learn More about dawdle

  1. See words that rhyme with dawdle Dictionary: Definition of dawdle Spanish Central: Translation of dawdle Nglish: Translation of dawdle for Spanish speakers

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