dawdle

1 to move or act slowly if you continue to dawdle, we'll be late for sure Synonyms crawl, creep, dally, delay, diddle, dillydally, drag, lag, linger, loiter, lollygag (also lallygag), mope, poke, shilly-shally, tarryRelated Words 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, temporizeNear Antonyms bowl, breeze, dart, hump, hurtle, hustle, scramble, stampede; gallop, jog, run, sprint, trot; accelerate, quicken, speed (up); catch up, fast-forward, outpace, outrun, outstrip, overtakeAntonyms 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 bum, chill, dally, idle, dillydally, drone, footle, goof (off), hack (around), hang (around or out), hang about [British], kick around, kick back, laze, lazy, loaf, loll, lounge, veg outRelated Words 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, truantNear Antonyms drudge, grind, grub, hump, hustle, labor, moil, peg, plod, plow, plug, slave, sweat, toil, travail, work; apply, buckle (down); exert, put out