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loiter

[loi-ter] / ˈlɔɪ tər /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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“If they happen to loiter in an area of interest, we go to investigate that and ask the questions.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

We would loiter, mostly, and eat the shredded beef nachos that I still think about to this day while the plastic of our high-top Converse grilled on the scalding asphalt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

During this phase, the spacecraft will follow a large "loiter" orbit that stretches roughly 2 million miles from Earth.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2026

On a sticky Delhi afternoon in the late 1980s, a group of architecture students loiter, argue and dream their way through a city that seems permanently unfinished.

From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026

The engines crooned mellifluously as McWatt throttled back to loiter and allow the rest of the planes in his flight to catch up.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Alexis Perez, 52, loiters beside the settlement where he typically spends two weeks straight, working 12-hour days before returning to his family.

From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026

“I don’t know,” she replies, as the camera loiters on her distress.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2024

Seemingly intent on not losing her, McSweeney follows the woman into a shop, then loiters outside until she emerges.

From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2022

Saturn — our solar system’s other large gaseous planet — now rises in the late afternoon, ahead of Jupiter, and loiters near the goat shape of Capricornus.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2022

Mrs. Grandon's invitation is for a week, and Eugene takes her down in the morning, and loiters most of the day in the seductive house.

From Floyd Grandon's Honor by Amanda Minnie Douglas

In the days, weeks and months leading up to the release of “Michael,” the one question that loitered at the top of my mind was why Jackson’s estate wasn’t content to leave well enough alone.

From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026

He loitered in the streets with his friends and called them “my pippin.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026

Border Patrol cops loitered on the sidewalks of a popular nightlife strip, where they got an earful from a passerby in a pink pointelle shirt.

From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2025

They loitered around in the dirt driveway, evidently hoping she’d change her mind.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

In the transitional space of the bus, she turned over the questions that had loitered in her mind since sending off her application six months prior.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Ciara Squires, a 34-year-old nurse, said she had also seen at least two people outside her window and found it frightening to return home because people were often loitering outside.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

“For privacy purposes, they’re not flying just in the sky and loitering, they’re responding at the onset of a call, usually through 9-1-1,” Warner said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026

Aevex External link is a California-based maker of drones and loitering munitions that recently completed its IPO External link on April 17.

From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026

The Defense Department last week paid AeroVironment $186 million for the first procurement in a five-year, $990 million contract for its Switchblade loitering missile systems.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 2, 2026

She says, ‘We don’t allow loitering in our store.”

From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson


Vocabulary lists containing loiter

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