as in goofing (around)
to spend time in aimless activity
we spent the snow day just fiddling around
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fiddling (around)
Verb
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Dallas Stadium’s long-term grass future Once engineers figured out that drainage was a major problem in sustaining quality grass indoors, putting down a playing surface for a football, futbol or a soccer game wasn’t that hard.—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
18 June 2026 -
Even playing in the large San Francisco market and increasing payroll from $175 million in 2024 to $210 million in 2026.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
18 June 2026
Verb
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Zeus did not approve of his daughter fooling around with this mortal roughneck hunter and put out a hit on Orion.—
Mike Lynch,
Twin Cities,
8 Mar. 2026
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The transition was rough for Ansari, who wasn’t fluent in English and often got in trouble for fooling around in school.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Kylian liked messing around, having a laugh and telling jokes — just like the rest of us.—
Tom Williams,
New York Times,
16 June 2026
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All of our memories are traveling the world, messing around, having fun, and being teenagers.—
Larisha Paul,
Rolling Stone,
22 May 2026
Verb
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President James Garfield’s assassin, Charles Guiteau, died by hanging about five months after he was convicted of murder.—
USA Today,
USA Today,
17 June 2026
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In 2019, city employees began hanging about 500 trick-or-treat pumpkin buckets in the trees on Main Street every October.—
Elliott Harrell,
Travel + Leisure,
18 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Fiddling (around).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiddling%20%28around%29. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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