as in to spend
to use up carelessly
fiddled away the entire evening surfing the Internet
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Recent Examples of fiddle away
Her positive pablum came too late to stop critics from casting her as a modern-day Nero, the emperor who supposedly fiddled away as Rome burned.
—
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fiddle away
Verb
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Joabe Barbosa, Matthew Plese and Omar Yousaf spent the day riding the entire MARTA rail system in an attempt to complete the full route in roughly three hours.—
Kaley Fedko,
CBS News,
9 Jan. 2026
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Visitors can spend their entire trip switching off between the two, but be sure to take some time to explore the rocky cove beaches called calas that have made Costa Blanca famous.—
Liz Provencher,
Travel + Leisure,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Indiana has lost more than 700 games in its history and now is one game away from a national title.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
10 Jan. 2026
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To our minds, Wednesday's horror, those kids who lost a mother, should supplant the inevitable circling of the ideological wagons and the parsing of the different angles of pictures taken at the scene.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
10 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Stained clothing, furniture, and rugs, anything that smells musty or mildewy, and items stored in spaces with termite, bedbug, or mice infestations should be thrown away rather than donated.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
8 Jan. 2026
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Most are used once and thrown away.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The documentary explores that moment as both a turning point in the investigation and a look at Wuornos’ history of abuse and abandonment — and the longing for connection that runs through her story.—
Christina Coulter,
PEOPLE,
9 Nov. 2025
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Silvetti joined the club as part of the MLS U-22 initiative and his contract runs through 2029, with an option for 2030.—
Andre Fernandez,
Miami Herald,
9 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fiddle away.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiddle%20away. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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