English Explanatory Dictionary

idle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. 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. Light-headed; foolish.
verb
  1. To spend (time) in idleness; to waste; to consume.
  2. To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.
  3. Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.
  4. To cause (an engine) to idle (run at a slow speed, or out of gear).
  5. To make (workers, students, etc) idle; to leave without work.
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.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. A suburb in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE1737).
  3. A river, the River Idle in Nottinghamshire, England, which flows into the River Trent.
name
  1. Initialism of Integrated DeveLopment Environment.
  2. Initialism of Integrated Development and Learning Environment.
  3. Acronym of indolent lesion of epithelial origin.

Pronunciation

īʹd(ə)l /ˈaɪd(ə)l/ /ˈʌɪdəl/ En-us-idle.ogg

Word forms

idle more idle most idle idles idling idled

Etymology

From Middle English idel, ydel, from Old English īdel, from Proto-West Germanic *īdal, from Proto-Germanic *īdalaz. Cognate with Dutch ijdel (“vain, meaningless”), ijl (“rareified, skinny”), iel (“thin, slender”); German Low German iedel (“vain, idle”); German eitel (“vain, conceited”); and possibly Old Norse illr ("bad"; > English ill).

Synonyms

bare leer void dormant quiescent suspended abeyant at rest cessant dull fallow idle inactive inert languid latent nonactive passive silent sedent sedentary slow torpid unactive unbusy unemployed unoccupied unbusied workless anachronistic antediluvial antediluvian antiquated antique archaic backward backwards behind the times cobwebbed cobwebby dated defunct desuete discontinued disused dootsie elderly extinct expired fossilized Havishamesque hoary Miss Havishamesque mouldy obsolete old oldfangled old-fashioned old school outdated

Related words

idling speed

Derived words

bone-idle bone idle idle as Ludlam's dog idle asset idledom idleful idle game idle hands are the Devil's playthings idle hands are the devil's tools idle hands are the devil's workshop idlehead idleheaded idlehood idleness idle pulley idleship idlesome idle threat idle time idle wheel idling idlish idly nonidle overidle the devil makes work for idle hands idle hands make work for the Devil the Devil finds work for idle hands unidle idler idlingly nonidling
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