LALLYGAG Synonyms: 95 Similar and Opposite Words

lollygag

verb

ˈlä-lē-ˌgag

variants also lallygag

Definition of lollygag

as in to delay

to move or act slowly accused the government of lollygagging while survivors of the earthquake continued to live in the most wretched conditions

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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 lollygag Knueppel didn’t seem to know how to lollygag through a workout, even one of the early-morning shootarounds where NBA players are just waking up. — Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 8 Apr. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for lollygag

Verb

During the first quarter of this year, around $130 billion worth of data center projects were blocked or delayed due to local opposition, according to a report from Data Center Watch.

— Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2026
The classroom pipeline feeds directly into Russia’s conscription system, which requires all 18-year-old men to complete one year’s military service, though in reality many avoid or delay being drafted.

— Bloomberg, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of delay

Verb

Patterson, who turns 27 on Tuesday, has experience at guard and center, and the 49ers needed a backup at both spots considering Toth’s lingering concussion symptoms.

— Matt Barrows, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2026
Inside Fort Worth's Cowboy Coliseum, a historic 1908 indoor rodeo venue in the heart of the city's famous Stockyards, the gunpowdery smell of pyrotechnics lingers in the air.

— Christine Lennon, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of linger

Verb

Their only hope is for someone to crawl across the room to the spot with the most intense g-forces and turn it off.

— Keith Phipps, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
Classicist and Roman plumbing expert Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow suggests that private toilets might have been cut off from the municipal sewers to prevent animals crawling up the pipes and into homes.

— Andrew Coletti, Popular Science, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of crawl

Verb

Adults’s Gen-Z characters tend to see their comforts as transient, their identities as mutable, and seriousness as an annoying obligation, all of which the second season pokes at a bit.

— Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
Most of what’s actionable comes from the signal that might be poking through.

— Ben Gretch, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of poke

Verb

Don’t dawdle, though, as the air temperature in the room or your warm hand on the glass can transfer their thermal energy to melt the rest of the ice and then begin to raise the temperature of your drink!

— Matthew Koss, The Conversation, 24 Aug. 2026
But, lucky for anyone who dawdled, many of the deals are still active.

— Adam Campbell-Schmitt, Bon Appetit Magazine, 27 June 2026

Definition of dawdle

Verb

In 2018, the real-estate agent Glenn Rice was strolling on the beach and noticed the place.

— Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 28 Aug. 2026
Fairgoers strolling the grounds were also likely to run into House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who won the Republican primary for governor earlier this month and will face Klobuchar in November.

— Esme Murphy, CBS News, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of stroll

Browse Nearby Words

lolly

lollygag

lollygagged

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“Lollygag.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lollygag. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of lollygag

verb

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