IDLES Synonyms: 72 Similar and Opposite Words

idles

verb

present tense third-person singular of idle

as in lazes

to spend time doing nothing she likes to idle during the summer and recharge herself for the fall semester we idled away the evening relaxing around the campfire

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of idles 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 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 The high-output Arco Zeus alternator cuts recharge time in half compared to earlier models and can charge the battery bank even while the Sprinter engine idles. —

Robb Report Studio, Robb Report, 26 Nov. 2025 The film just idles on the runway. —

Tim Grierson, Vulture, 18 Oct. 2025 As our car idles, Lucas Nascimento Morgado, a young biologist who works for a jaguar NGO called Onçafari here in the southern Brazilian Pantanal, grins giddily. —

Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Aug. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for idles

Verb

But Koreeda dawdles over all that without ever finding much dramatic nuance, making for a dullish midsection.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2026
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