Library / English Dictionary

DAWDLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The deliberate act of delaying and playing instead of working

Synonyms:

dalliance; dawdling; trifling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("dawdling" is a kind of...):

delay; holdup (the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time)

Derivation:

dawdle (waste time)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

-ing form of the verb dawdle

Credits

 Context examples: 

That she should be tired now, however, gives me no surprise; for there is nothing in the course of one's duties so fatiguing as what we have been doing this morning: seeing a great house, dawdling from one room to another, straining one's eyes and one's attention, hearing what one does not understand, admiring what one does not care for.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But I was going to say that while I was dawdling about abroad, I saw a good many talented young fellows making all sorts of sacrifices, and enduring real hardships, that they might realize their dreams.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)