as in lazies
to pretend to be sick or injured in order to avoid doing work
Because of his frequent absences, his boss suspected he was malingering.
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malingers
Verb
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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
Verb
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The cranky and irritating backseat driver, who bums a lift midway through the Griswolds' adventure, also has with her the easily excitable pooch Dinky.—
Jordan Hoffman,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Each has a meltdown worthy of a telenovela, messes with the crime scene and hours later the police are called.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Jan. 2026
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In Lost Lambs, the internet sabotages a family in much the same way that Napoleon messes things up for the Bezukhovs in Tolstoy’s War and Peace.—
Gideon Leek,
The Atlantic,
13 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The proposal rests on the false premise that allowing corporate investors to own and subsequently rent out homes is a major driver of high home prices.—
Veronique De Rugy,
Oc Register,
22 Jan. 2026
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Opened last fall, the resort rests where three ecosystems collide—the Mojave Desert, the Colorado Plateau, and the Great Basin—creating scenery that feels somewhat otherworldly.—
Brittany Anas,
Forbes.com,
21 Jan. 2026
Verb
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No screens, no distractions—only the kind of presence that lingers long after the vows are spoken.—
Nikita Khanna,
Vogue,
5 Feb. 2026
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Measles also lingers in rooms longer than many other diseases, Weber added.—
Mary Ramsey,
Charlotte Observer,
5 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Malingers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malingers. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
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