Synonyms of kicking around

kicking around

verb

present participle of kick around

1

as in considering

to give serious and careful thought to

the board spent the afternoon kicking around the feasibility of opening an overseas office

Synonyms & Similar Words

• considering
• contemplating
• pondering
• debating
• entertaining
• studying
• looking at
• thinking (about or over)
• questioning
• chewing on
• wrestling (with)
• mulling (over)
• weighing
• poring (over)
• eyeing
• exploring
• chewing over
• reviewing
• analyzing
• reflecting (on or upon)
• beating one's brains out (about)
• perpending
• deliberating
• cudgeling one's brains (about)
• ruminating
• meditating
• revolving
• cogitating
• musing (upon)
• turning
• dwelling (on or upon)
• fixating (on or upon)
• speculating (about)
• brooding (about or over)
• obsessing (about or over)
• fretting (about or over)
• drinking (in)
• reasoning
• digesting
• reminiscing
• believing
• concluding
• absorbing
• opining
• conceiving
• assimilating
• second-guessing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ignoring
• overlooking
• disregarding
• rejecting
• dismissing
• slighting
• pooh-poohing

2

as in playing

to spend time in aimless activity

I really can't do much but kick around at work until I get the rest of the submissions

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

3

as in hanging (around or out)

to spend time doing nothing

spent the afternoon kicking around, while his wife bought out the mall

Synonyms & Similar Words

• hanging (around or out)
• hacking (around)
• killing time
• goofing (off)
• kicking back
• vegging out
• hanging about
• lounging
• twiddling one's thumbs
• idling
• resting
• bumming
• playing
• loafing
• chilling
• relaxing
• fiddling (around)
• lazing
• puttering (around)
• lazying
• strolling
• dawdling
• poking
• pottering (around)
• droning
• footling
• dillydallying
• lolling
• messing
• mucking
• lingering
• estivating
• dallying
• monkeying
• fooling
• piddling
• trifling
• hibernating
• dozing
• lagging
• loitering
• sauntering
• ambling
• moseying
• malingering
• swanning
• goldbricking
• truanting
• tarrying
• furloughing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• working
• laboring
• grinding
• plowing
• buckling (down)
• sweating
• plugging
• toiling
• plodding
• grubbing
• hustling
• humping
• slaving
• pegging
• applying
• putting out
• drudging
• moiling
• travailing
• exerting

4

as in wandering

to move about from place to place aimlessly

after spending a year in Europe kicking around, the backpacker was ready to return home

Synonyms & Similar Words

• wandering
• roaming
• knocking (about)
• strolling
• drifting
• cruising
• floating
• gadding (about)
• meandering
• ranging
• roving
• traipsing
• rambling
• batting
• gallivanting
• milling (about or around)
• sauntering
• ambling
• mooching
• maundering
• dawdling
• moping
• straggling
• straying
• tramping
• hoboing
• vagabonding

5

as in abusing

to inflict physical or emotional harm upon

children who were raised by an alcoholic father who regularly kicked them around

Synonyms & Similar Words

• abusing
• taking apart
• bullying
• messing over
• torturing
• mistreating
• working (over)
• ill-using
• injuring
• misusing
• manhandling
• violating
• brutalizing
• oppressing
• mishandling
• hurting
• maltreating
• ill-treating
• beating (up)
• persecuting
• harassing
• tormenting
• molesting
• roughing (up)
• harming
• outraging
• messing (up)
• victimizing
• wronging
• sandbagging
• burning

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• caring (for)
• fostering
• nurturing
• cherishing
• catering (to)
• gratifying
• favoring
• indulging
• spoiling
• pampering
• coddling
• humoring
• babying
• mollycoddling

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of kicking around

In other words, the idea of turning roads into giant wireless chargers has been kicking around for years, and some projects are now producing encouraging results rather than just concept illustrations. — New Atlas, 18 Oct. 2026

Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask Laneige’s Lip Sleeping Mask has been kicking around Allure editors’ nightstands for years, and judging by its 2025 Readers’ Choice Award, plenty of you are just as hooked. — Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 6 Oct. 2026

Jac Schaeffer, that show's creator, was scheduled to helm this follow-up as well before bowing out of the Marvel machine, and VisionQuest has been kicking around in development for a bit. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 28 Sep. 2026

If there had been a Season 2, Uziel was already kicking around some ideas. — Michael Schneider, Variety, 10 Sep. 2026

The fantasy of a cultural architecture that’s as flexible as culture itself has been kicking around for more than 100 years, and there’s something obscurely disappointing about seeing a technocratic version get put into practice. — Justin Davidson, Curbed, 29 July 2026

Within the venue gates but outside the stands, groups of friends were playing cornhole and having picnic dinners from food trucks parked onsite; older attendees were chatting and kids were kicking around mini soccer balls. — Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 7 July 2026

Some of the finer moments for Nemes in the studio were during rehearsals, when the band was just kicking around ideas and jamming. — Tina Eves, SPIN, 1 July 2026

All told, it’s been a pretty spectacular and drama-free rollout for an idea that had been kicking around Hollywood for over 15 years. — Josef Adalian, Vulture, 18 June 2026