idle

Meaning

Verb

1. (transitive) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume.
2. (intransitive) To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.
3. (intransitive) Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.
4. (transitive) To cause (an engine) to idle(3)

Adj

1. (obsolete) Empty, vacant.
2. Not being used appropriately; not occupied; (of time) with no, no important, or not much activity.
3. Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing in particular.
4. Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.
5. Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.
6. (obsolete) Light-headed; foolish.

Noun

1. The state of idling, of being idle.
2. The lowest selectable thrust or power setting of an engine.
3. An idle animation.
4. An idle game.

Synonyms

lazy

loaf

slothful

indolent

laze

lounge

inactive

vain

unoccupied

dawdle

unemployed

useless

unused

otiose

waste time

frivolous

futile

free

🆓

jobless

sluggish

slack

aimless

groundless

loiter

unfounded

baseless

shiftless

lounge about

out of work

worthless

loose

trivial

light

pointless

dead

💀

loaf about

leisure

leisured

empty

sluggard

dally

slug

stagnate

shirk

shallow

remiss

slow

sterile

goof off

fuck off

Translations

ozioso

faul

ocioso

müßig

pigro

untätig

aylak

oziare

nutzlos

träge

inattivo

inactif

αδρανής

faulenzen

vano

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈaɪd(ə)l/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: idelen

Inherited from Old English: īdlian

Cognate with German: eiteln

Inherited from Middle English: idel

Inherited from Old English: īdel

In summary

From Middle English idelen, from Old English īdlian, from Proto-West Germanic *īdalēn. Cognate with German eiteln (“to make empty, free up”).