| / English Dictionary |
IDLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The state of an engine or other mechanism that is idling
Example:
the car engine was running at idle
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("idle" is a kind of...):
operation (the state of being in effect or being operative)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not in active use
Example:
idle hands
Synonyms:
idle; unused
Classified under:
Similar:
inactive (lacking activity; lying idle or unused)
Derivation:
idleness (having no employment)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not in action or at work
Example:
an idle mind
Classified under:
Similar:
unengaged (not busy or occupied; free)
leisured (free from duties or responsibilities)
lackadaisical (idle or indolent especially in a dreamy way)
faineant; indolent; lazy; otiose; slothful; work-shy (disinclined to work or exertion)
bone-idle; bone-lazy (constitutionally lazy or idle)
Also:
ineffective; ineffectual; uneffective (not producing an intended effect)
unemployed (not engaged in a gainful occupation)
Antonym:
busy (actively or fully engaged or occupied)
Derivation:
idleness (the trait of being idle out of a reluctance to work)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not having a job
Example:
many people in the area were out of work
Synonyms:
idle; jobless; out of work
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unemployed (not engaged in a gainful occupation)
Derivation:
idleness (having no employment)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Not yielding a return
Example:
idle funds
Synonyms:
dead; idle
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unprofitable (producing little or no profit or gain)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility
Example:
a loose tongue
Synonyms:
idle; loose
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
irresponsible (showing lack of care for consequences)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Silly or trivial
Example:
light idle chatter
Synonyms:
idle; light
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
frivolous (not serious in content or attitude or behavior)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Without a basis in reason or fact
Example:
unwarranted jealousy
Synonyms:
baseless; groundless; idle; unfounded; unwarranted; wild
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unsupported (not sustained or maintained by nonmaterial aid)
Derivation:
idleness (the quality of lacking substance or value)
III. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they idle ... he / she / it idles
Past simple: idled
Past participle: idled
-ing form: idling
Sense 1
Meaning:
Run disconnected or idle
Example:
the engine is idling
Synonyms:
idle; tick over
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Antonym:
run (be operating, running or functioning)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Be idle; exist in a changeless situation
Example:
He slugged in bed all morning
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "idle"):
moon; moon around; moon on (be idle in a listless or dreamy way)
ride the bench; warm the bench (be out of the game)
daydream; moon (have dreamlike musings or fantasies while awake)
arse about; arse around; bum; bum about; bum around; frig around; fuck off; loaf; loll; loll around; lounge about; lounge around; waste one's time (be lazy or idle)
lie about; lie around (hang around idly)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Antonym:
work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)
Derivation:
idler (person who does no work)
idling (having no employment)
Context examples:
They were now approaching the cottage, and all idle topics were superseded.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
It was a foolish, idle inclination on my side, said he, the consequence of ignorance of the world—and want of employment.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
They were ignorant, idle, and vain.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
It was idle, he knew, to get between a fool and his folly; while two or three fools more or less would not alter the scheme of things.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to look out of my bedroom window about two o’clock in the morning.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He has been idling all this term, and he must look forward with dread to the examination.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Miss Ingram, I am sure you will not fail in evincing superiority to idle terrors.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
"But it is not a foolish errand, nor an idle one," replied the Scarecrow; "it is important. And we have been told that Oz is a good Wizard."
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
“You are a sort of monster,” I added audaciously, “a Caliban who has pondered Setebos, and who acts as you act, in idle moments, by whim and fancy.”
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
As the news of my arrival spread through the kingdom, it brought prodigious numbers of rich, idle, and curious people to see me; so that the villages were almost emptied; and great neglect of tillage and household affairs must have ensued, if his imperial majesty had not provided, by several proclamations and orders of state, against this inconveniency.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
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