1
as in lingers
to move or act slowly
if you continue to dawdle, we'll be late for sure
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in lazes
to spend time doing nothing
accused the city council of dawdling even as the crime rate was spiraling out of control
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dawdles
But while the new movie dawdles on its way to Toxie’s origins, then rushes toward a finale with a lurching rhythm that verges on calculated ineptitude, its spirit never feels inauthentic.
—
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 29 Aug. 2025
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 29 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dawdles
Verb
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Light snow lingers into the evening.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Nov. 2025
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But beverages that contain THC don’t hit like alcohol, instead causing a sensation that’s more like a slow exhale that lingers just long enough to make the room feel softer, the music warmer and your friends a little funnier.—
Timothy DePeugh,
Charlotte Observer,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Department officials later told her in texts and emails that delays completing the more detailed review of Rochelle’s home were her fault.—
Jayme Fraser,
USA Today,
30 Oct. 2025
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But that was before the arrival of teplizumab, a monoclonal antibody approved in late 2022 that delays the advance of the illness and may even halt it at stage 2 in some people.—
Tara Haelle,
Scientific American,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
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As your car idles, warm air blown from the top of your dashboard will melt the ice on the outside of the windshield.—
Meghan Overdeep,
Southern Living,
27 Dec. 2025
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Security camera footage shows a black vehicle park in front of Café Bernardo, a restaurant, and idles for about two minutes.—
Madisen Keavy,
CBS News,
17 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Iwobi’s movement drags Ladislav Krejci wider, increasing the space between the lines and creating a clear passing angle for Calvin Bassey.—
Ahmed Walid,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
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This not-quite-title song, which is nearly eight minutes long, is a sort of mini-suite, opening with a dog barking, giving way to an acoustic-guitar melody accompanying polyphonic vocals, then becoming electric and crashingly alive, until the relentless screech of a guitar drags you to the end.—
Hanif Abdurraqib,
New Yorker,
18 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Every schedule crescendos and relaxes in terms of travel difficulty, but the Broncos have been on a particularly brutal run recently.—
Parker Gabriel,
Denver Post,
7 Nov. 2025
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That first episode suffers from the need to do so much heavy lifting and feels both overstuffed and overly conventional, but once all the pieces are in place, the show relaxes into itself and its actual voice emerges.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
2 Nov. 2025
Verb
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What to do if the -- if the original guy crawls out of his grave and wants his job back.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
26 Oct. 2025
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When a storm crawls, rainfall piles up over the same towns for days.—
Chris Dolce,
CNN Money,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The belief that the Maduro episode could be replicated in Iran also rests on a misleading comparison.—
Sanam Vakil,
Time,
8 Jan. 2026
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But according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the post-raid landscape, that assumption rests on dangerously fragile ground.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
6 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Is every head that pokes in to look at me actually Frank himself?—
Shane Kowalski,
Harpers Magazine,
30 Dec. 2025
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The Aries moon pokes holes in old insecurities about competence and productivity.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
28 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dawdles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dawdles. Accessed 10 Jan. 2026.
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