do-nothing

In the middle, it can be hard to shake the Dwight Schrute-esque caricature of a manager who was shunted into some do-nothing role where he can’t cause too much damage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

As much as Forrest is a know-nothing, except when it comes to knowing what love is, he’s also a do-nothing when it comes to acknowledging systemic wrongdoing.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2024

It is the sound of do-nothing summer afternoons in the pre-internet portion of my youth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2021

Consider, however, that Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, has said he sets aside “puttering time” every morning before taking any calls or meetings — basically carving out a scheduled chunk of do-nothing time.

From New York Times ● May 29, 2021

"Then the stock of Charles, whom the whole world calls the Great," rejoined the Emperor with an incredulous and proud smile, "is, according to your theory, destined to run out obscurely in some do-nothing king?"

From The Carlovingian Coins Or The Daughters of Charlemagne. A Tale of the Ninth Century by Eugène Sue

And we tell the liars, deniers, and do-nothings to shove off: There’s no future in naysaying.

From The Guardian ● May 22, 2019

Winkler’s Gene Cousineau, a self-serious buffoon long used to being surrounded by weightless do-nothings, mistakes Barry’s confession for an improvised monologue.

From Slate ● Mar. 29, 2019

We associate loafing with people wasting their lives; with harried parents shaking their sleeping teenage children out of bed; with do-nothings, doing nothing.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 23, 2018

Sir: The world's two prize do-nothings have forced one of the world's doers to resign.

From Time Magazine Archive

Down here we don't give our daughters to strangers or do-nothings or rascals.

From The Fortune Hunter by David Graham Phillips