Synonyms of doodling

doodling

verb

present participle of doodle

as in playing

to spend time in aimless activity

I plan to spend the entire vacation just doodling

Synonyms & Similar Words

• playing
• fiddling (around)
• lounging
• goofing (around)
• puttering (around)
• pottering (around)
• trifling
• fooling around
• fribbling
• monkeying (around)
• messing around
• hanging about
• idling
• loafing
• dawdling
• kicking around
• tinkering
• hanging (around or out)
• lolling
• horsing around
• dallying
• clowning (around)
• dillydallying
• diddling (with)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• setting (to)
• settling (down)
• buckling (down)
• knuckling down

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of doodling

The whole thing plays like something concocted by an 8th grader sitting in the back of biology class and doodling movie ideas in his notebook, offering more proof that Besson has never quite risen above the juvenile tendencies of his early years. — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026

While some might show their boredom by doodling on paper or playing on their phone, this pilot took his message to new heights – roughly 1,100 feet (335 meters). — Charlotte Reck, CNN Money, 14 July 2026

Art therapy isn’t just finger painting and doodling. — Hannah Silverman, Parents, 17 June 2026

They were inspired both by the 2023 California Superbloom and memories of doodling flowers while growing up in India. — Anthony Paletta, Curbed, 17 May 2026

Amazon Kindle Scribe Deal The Kindle Scribe is for the reader who can't stop doodling in the margins. — Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 3 Apr. 2026

Seidle sketches out miniature worlds on his Casio with the oblong abstractions of a kindergartener doodling on a piece of paper, his primitive songs existing in a kind of nascent pre-genre state. — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 2 Apr. 2026

The design was inspired by the hair-tearing boredom of COVID lockdown-era remote work, a time in which Knafs founder Ben Petersen maintained sanity during Zoom calls by fidgeting around with pocket knives and doodling pictures. — New Atlas, 26 Mar. 2026

Like a lot of artists, Zard Apuya remembers being the kind of kid who was always doodling or drawing. — Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Mar. 2026