Synonyms and antonyms of To waste time, or to pass time doing unimportant things in American Thesaurus

fritter away ()

to waste time or money on things that are not necessary or important

fiddle around ()

to waste time doing things that are not important or useful

knock around ()

to spend time somewhere with no particular purpose

loaf (verb)

informal to spend time doing nothing, usually when you should be working

mess around ()

to waste time doing things that are not important

reinvent the wheel ()

to waste time and effort trying to do something that someone else has already done well

kill time ()

to make time seem to pass more quickly by doing something instead of just waiting

pass the time ()

to prevent yourself from becoming bored by doing something, often something that you are not really interested in

futz around (informal)

informal to spend a lot of time doing something without achieving much

kick your heels ()

to waste time waiting for someone or something

beat a dead horse ()

to waste time on something that you know is not going to happen

be tilting at windmills ()

to be wasting time dealing with problems that do not really exist

bugger about (British)

Britishimpolite to waste time behaving in a silly way

dilly-dally (verb)

informal old-fashioned to waste time

fart around (impolite)

impolite to waste time doing silly or unimportant things

fiddle while Rome burns ()

to be busy doing unimportant things when you should be dealing with an important problem

footle (verb)

informal to waste time doing things that are not important or necessary

fuck around (offensive)

offensive an extremely offensive expression that means to waste time, especially by doing things that are silly or unnecessary

goof off ()

to waste time when you should be working

jack around ()

to waste time doing stupid things

lollygag (verb)

Americaninformal to waste time doing unimportant things

mess around ()

to spend time doing things in a relaxed way

mess around ()

to try to change or repair something, especially when this is unnecessary or unsuccessful

moon around (informal)

informal to spend time doing nothing useful or important

moon over (informal)

informal to spend time thinking about someone who you are attracted to instead of doing anything useful

muck up (Australian)

Australian to behave badly or in a silly way that wastes time

piddle around (informal)

informal to spend time doing things that are not important

putter (verb)

Americaninformal to pass the time in a relaxed way doing things that are enjoyable but not very important

rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic ()

to busy yourself with pointless tasks instead of facing the real problems

screw around ()

to waste time in silly or useless activities

split hairs ()

to argue or worry about very small details or differences that are not important