dawdling
present participle ofdawdle
dawdle
verb[I]
uk/ˈdɔː.dəl/us/ˈdɑː.dəl/to do something or gosomewhereveryslowly, taking moretimethan isnecessary:
Stop dawdling! You'll be late forschool!
to move slowly
- crawlThere'd been a bad accident on the motorway and traffic was crawling.
- trundleLorries trundle through the narrow lanes.
- creepHe crept downstairs, hardly making any noise.
- trudgeThey trudged wearily through the snow.
- strollWe spent the afternoon strolling around Budapest.
- ambleHe ambled over to the window.
Slow and moving slowly
- (as) slow as molassesidiom
- at a snail's paceidiom
- by and byidiom
- by degreesidiom
- clawyourway(somewhere)idiom
- float
- inch by inchidiom
- infiltrate
- infiltration
- jog
- labour
- lag
- laggard
- sluggishly
- sluggishness
- snail
- steadily
- steadiness
- struggle
- wander
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Delaying and wasting time
Examplesofdawdling
dawdling
In English, many past and present participles of verbs can be used as adjectives. Some of these examples may show the adjective use.
Thedawdlingprobably caused the situation to escalate.
FromEuroparl Parallel Corpus - English
Police are for fighting crime, not fordawdlingalong motorways behind mobile classrooms and grain silos.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
We have spent a long timedawdlingand making excuses.
FromEuroparl Parallel Corpus - English
Nevertheless, motorists driving at the limit prescribed invariably find themselves almostdawdlingin a stream of traffic which is going very much faster.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
I think that they have beendawdlingalong.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
In the meantime we have no excuse for furtherdawdlingand dilatory action.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
There were other illustrations of that kind ofdawdling.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
We are still drifting anddawdlingas the precious months flow out.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It is a crisis now, thanks to theirdawdling.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
He is sitting there more or lessdawdlingalong.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
I want to know why there is this dilatory,dawdlingprocedure.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
There was no question ofdawdling.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Each programme, just 15 minutes long, focuses on just one thing, quite patiently, withoutdawdling.
From
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
- worker director
- worker-director
- worker participation
- worker-participation
- worker productivity
- worker productivity
- worker protection
- worker safety
- worker safety
- workers' comp
- workers-comp
- workers' compensation
- workers-compensation
- worker training
- work ethic
- work-ethic
- work experience
- work-experience
- work-family
- work-family
- workfare
- work-fingers-to-the-bone
- workflow
- work force
- workforce