idle

In June, around 40 percent of Argentina's industrial capacity lay idle.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

While arenas sat empty and the sport sat idle, a representative for Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard named Dennis Robertson wanted $10 million more dollars a year for his client.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

The last argument for renting is that you pay only for the hours you use, and those idle hours are disappearing as more of the work runs through AI.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

"These houses are built, they're sat there, and they are being left idle," he added.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

There was quiet, idle talking, but Doctor Copeland did not listen or speak.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Ripley, a slacker and a con man grinding out a living in postwar New York, is sent to Italy to try to persuade a trust-funded idler to come home and take over the family business.

From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2024

There is an almost continuous succession of scenes in which Nicholson sketches this idler, lover, jokester, manipulator, con man, gambler, loner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2023

Oh, that would be the uncle who willed his farm and estate to Onegin, a charming idler.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2020

What’s missing is a palpable grit, particularly in Whitted’s performance, that would help us to a belief in Hal’s head-spinning pivot from idler and carouser to beloved hero of the realm.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 10, 2019

While this incorrigible idler is thus yielding to the charm of her habitual indolence, an entirely different scene is going on in an adjoining room.

From The Seven Cardinal Sins: Envy and Indolence by Eug?ne Sue

Shettleston is one of Britain’s poorest, idlest and sickest places; at 64, male life expectancy is 15 years below the national average and falling.

From Economist ● Jul. 10, 2014

On the idlest previous day in the history of the bureau, Feb. 25, 1932, there had been 56 licenses issued.

From Time Magazine Archive

There it remains, behind spiked railings, the idlest monument of a whim.

From Highways and Byways in Surrey by Hugh Thomson

The money which it will cost me is no more than I have thrown away many times on the idlest passing pleasure.

From Mr. Marx's Secret by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

It ought to be rolled, but we have the idlest gardener boy in the world.

From The Happy Warrior by A. S. M. (Arthur Stuart-Menteth) Hutchinson

A carpenter whose own narrowboat is moored in a clump of four boats says that when one of his neighbours idles her older diesel engine, the exhaust seeps right into his boat, nearly choking him.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2023

The strike idles many entertainment industry workers, delaying the start of the television season until November.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2023

The vessel, having reached the rig, idles on foamy water beneath its rigid steel beams, in a sticky, highway-scented mist.

From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2020

“Billy never idles, so why should you?” the ’80s MTV star growls in a public service announcement intended to shame New Yorkers into shutting the engine off.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2020

Connor and I sit in the back seat as the car idles.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

His girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, idled their car in a disabled parking spot, accompanied by the couple’s other child.

From Slate ● Jun. 4, 2026

He voiced his rage over an empty reservoir, idled fire trucks and what he called dangerous brush clearance policies.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026

Then there is MP, which restarted the Mountain Pass mine in 2018 External link after it had idled in 2015.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

Repositioning of tankers and a return to normal operations for idled plants were among the factors Nasser cited for the delay.

From MarketWatch ● May 11, 2026

The rest idled along, hopping a few yards and then pausing to nibble or to pass droppings on the warm, sunny grass.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

Another resident reported that, in April, a Waymo was idling for more than five minutes in front of the entrance to a church parking garage during a Sunday service, preventing parishioners from entering and exiting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Video of the confrontation appears to show Nelson idling in a snowy strip mall parking lot in his gray Dodge Ram when another driver in an even larger pickup pulls in beside him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

The officer walked up to my idling Impala and informed me that my left taillight was out.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026

Three horses have become two, but Hearts are out in front and show no sign of idling.

From BBC ● May 4, 2026

About a hundred feet from the store he turned the tractor halfway around and stopped it, leaving the engine idling.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien