Looking for the meaning of the word IDLE in English for both noun and verb forms from the Oxford Dictionary? Below, you can explore all possible meanings and definitions of IDLE with sentence examples. You can also use the “AUDIO PRONUNCIATION” track to check the correct pronunciation in British English.
Word: Idle
Speech Type: Adjective
Old English īdel ‘empty, useless’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch ijdel ‘vain, frivolous, useless’ and German eitel ‘bare, worthless’
ˈʌɪdl
(of a person) avoiding work; lazy
Short Definition:avoiding work
Examples:- idle students
without purpose or effect; pointless
Short Definition:without purpose
Examples:- he did not want to waste valuable time in idle chatter
Word: Idle
Speech Type: Verb
ˈʌɪdl
spend time doing nothing
Short Definition:spend time doing nothing
Examples:- four men were idling outside the shop
- we idled the afternoon away
(of an engine) run slowly while disconnected from a load or out of gear
Short Definition:(of engine) run slowly while out of gear
Examples:- Nadine kept the engine idling
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