LINGER Synonyms: 96 Similar and Opposite Words

linger

verb

ˈliŋ-gər

Definition of linger

as in to delay

to move or act slowly since they were charging by the hour, the house painters lingered in finishing up their work

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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 linger For Green, and the Warriors (2-0), the victory eliminated any lingering doubts about their season opener last week, a thrilling, 32-26 triple-overtime win against Newbury Park. — Joel Beers, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026 During these months, the sun lingers well past midnight, giving you more time to explore and cover ground. — Gwen Nicol, Travel + Leisure, 29 Aug. 2026 With mortgage rates lingering between 6% and 7%, more than double the rates seen during the pandemic, smaller homes can fit more comfortably into a buyer's budget – especially for first-time buyers, LendingTree said. — Medora Lee, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026 Plush tannins support flavors of cocoa powder, black licorice, cassis, and the sensation of the famous Rutherford dust in the lingering finish. — Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 28 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for linger

Recent Examples of Synonyms for linger

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

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

That March, Tahmasbi noticed strangers loitering around his apartment building.

— Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2026
The company revealed that both the Containerized Missile Launcher and the FV-014 loitering munition system are in-house developments.

— Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of loiter

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

line up

linger

lingered

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

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Synonyms of linger

verb

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