Word Meanings - IDLE - Book Publishers vocabulary database

vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. idal, D. ijdel, OHG. ital vain, empty, mere, G. eitel, Dan. & Sw. idel mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. 1. Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren. "Deserts idle." Shak. Every

Additional info about word: IDLE

vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. idal, D. ijdel, OHG. ital vain, empty, mere, G. eitel, Dan. & Sw. idel mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. 1. Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren. "Deserts idle." Shak. Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matt. xii. 36. Down their idle weapons dropped. Milton. This idle story became important. Macaulay. 2. Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours. The idle spear and shield were high uphing. Milton. 3. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen. Why stand ye here all the day idle Matt. xx. 6. 4. Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow. 5. Light-headed; foolish. Ford. Idle pulley , a pulley that rests upon a belt to tighten it; a pulley that only guides a belt and is not used to transmit power. -- Idle wheel , a gear wheel placed between two others, to transfer motion from one to the other without changing the direction of revolution. -- In idle, in vain. "God saith, thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord God in idle." Chaucer. Syn. -- Unoccupied; unemployed; vacant; inactive; indolent; sluggish; slothful; useless; ineffectual; futile; frivolous; vain; trifling; unprofitable; unimportant. -- Idle, Indolent, Lazy. A propensity to inaction is expressed by each of these words; they differ in the cause and degree of this characteristic. Indolent denotes an habitual love to ease, a settled dislike of movement or effort; idle is opposed to busy, and denotes a dislike of continuous exertion. Lazy is a stronger and more contemptuous term than indolent.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of IDLE)

• Dawdle
• Lag
• dally
• idle
• Empty
• Vacant
• void
• clear
• unencumbered
• unobstructed
• unoccupied
• waste
• uninhabited
• unfrequented
• devoid
• vacuous
• destitute
• unulled
• unfurnished
• untenanted
• evacuated
• deficient
• weak
• Billy
• senseless
• Fallow
• Quiescent
• uncultivated
• unproductive
• untilled
• Fritter
• Dribble
• dissipate
• Loiter
• linger
• saunter
• tarry
• Idle

Related words: (words related to IDLE)

• DRIBBLET; DRIBLET
  A small piece or part; a small sum; a small quantity of money in making up a sum; as, the money was paid in dribblets. When made up in dribblets, as they could, their best securities were at an interest of twelve per cent. Burke.
• WASTEL
  A kind of white and fine bread or cake; -- called also wastel bread, and wastel cake. Roasted flesh or milk and wasted bread. Chaucer. The simnel bread and wastel cakes, which were only used at the tables of the highest nobility. Sir W. Scott.
• BILLY GOAT
  A male goat.
• CLEARLY
  In a clear manner.
• WASTETHRIFT
  A spendthrift.
• CLEARER
  A tool of which the hemp for lines and twines, used by sailmakers, is finished. (more info) 1. One who, or that which, clears. Gold is a wonderful clearer of the understanding. Addison.
• WASTEBOARD
  See 3
• DALLY
  trifle, talk nonsense, OSw. tule a droll or funny man; or AS. dol 1. To waste time in effeminate or voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to fool away time; to delay unnecessarily; to tarry; to trifle. We have trifled too long already;
• VACANTLY
  In a vacant manner; inanely.
• FALLOW
  Left untilled or unsowed after plowing; uncultivated; as, fallow ground. Fallow chat, Fallow finch , a small European bird, the wheatear . See Wheatear. (more info) vaal fallow, faded, OHG. falo, G. falb, fahl, Icel. fölr, and prob. to Lith.
• TARRY
  Consisting of, or covered with, tar; like tar.
• LINGERING
  1. Delaying. 2. Drawn out in time; remaining long; protracted; as, a lingering disease. To die is the fate of man; but to die with lingering anguish is generally his folly. Rambler.
• DEFICIENT
  Wanting, to make up completeness; wanting, as regards a requirement; not sufficient; inadequate; defective; imperfect; incomplete; lacking; as, deficient parts; deficient estate; deficient strength; deficient in judgment. The style was
• CLEAR-HEADED
  Having a clear understanding; quick of perception; intelligent. "He was laborious and clear-headed." Macaulay. -- Clear"-head`ed*ness, n.
• LOITERER
  1. One who loiters; an idler. 2. An idle vagrant; a tramp. Bp. Sanderson.
• EVACUATION
  1. The act of emptying, clearing of the contents, or discharging. Specifically: Withdrawal of troops from a town, fortress, etc. Voidance of any matter by the natural passages of the body or by an artificial opening; defecation; also, a diminution
• CLEAR-SIGHTEDNESS
  Acute discernment.
• VACUOUSNESS
  The quality or state of being vacuous; emptiness; vacuity. W. Montagu.
• WASTE
  the kindred German word; cf. OHG. wuosti, G. wüst, OS. w, D. woest, 1. Desolate; devastated; stripped; bare; hence, dreary; dismal; gloomy; cheerless. The dismal situation waste and wild. Milton. His heart became appalled as he gazed forward into
• DISSIPATED
  1. Squandered; scattered. "Dissipated wealth." Johnson. 2. Wasteful of health, money, etc., in the pursuit of pleasure; dissolute; intemperate. A life irregular and dissipated. Johnson.
• ALKALI WASTE
  Waste material from the manufacture of alkali; specif., soda waste.
• THRYFALLOW
  To plow for the third time in summer; to trifallow. Tusser.
• OVERWASTED
  Wasted or worn out; Drayton.
• OVERLINGER
  To cause to linger; to detain too long. Fuller.
• POLYNUCLEAR
  Containing many nuclei.
• FOREWASTE
  See GASCOIGNE