dawdled; dawdling
ˈdȯ-dliŋ 
-dᵊl-iŋ
1
: to spend time idly
… dawdled about in the vestibule …—
Jane Austen
Jane Austen2
: to move lackadaisically
"I don't want you dawdling while you making deliveries for Mrs. Ford."—Connie Porter
Connie Porter
: to spend fruitlessly or lackadaisically
dawdled the day away
Examples of dawdle in a Sentence
Hurry up! There's no time to dawdle.
Come home immediately after school, and don't dawdle.
Recent Examples on the Web
Players dawdled on the ball in key moments, hesitant to make mistakes.
—Carl Anka, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025
Skelly secured the Obama Administration’s commitment to buy his energy, but in the course of a decade the project slowly collapsed, as state powers dawdled and eventually refused to issue the necessary permits.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025
Before building a vacuum train tube from L.A. to San Francisco, proponents must succeed with an 8-kilometer test track
Philip E. Ross
18 Dec 2015
8 min read
The Straight Road: Only when dawdling in the city can Hyperloop capsules handle more than a gentle curve.
—IEEE Spectrum, 18 Dec. 2015
Instead, season three of The White Lotus dawdles too long, trying to save too much of the good stuff for the end.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dawdle
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Carl Anka, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025
Skelly secured the Obama Administration’s commitment to buy his energy, but in the course of a decade the project slowly collapsed, as state powers dawdled and eventually refused to issue the necessary permits.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025
Before building a vacuum train tube from L.A. to San Francisco, proponents must succeed with an 8-kilometer test track
Philip E. Ross
18 Dec 2015
8 min read
The Straight Road: Only when dawdling in the city can Hyperloop capsules handle more than a gentle curve.
—IEEE Spectrum, 18 Dec. 2015
Instead, season three of The White Lotus dawdles too long, trying to save too much of the good stuff for the end.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dawdle
Cite this Entry
“Dawdle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dawdle. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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