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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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At a time when the most exciting films were 10 seconds of a train, bored teenagers probably would go berserk at the chance to loiter near an obelisk.

From Slate Jun. 24, 2026

By contrast, a blockade allows US warships to loiter safely, far offshore in the waters of the Gulf of Oman, track vessels emerging from Iranian ports and interdict them at will.

From BBC Apr. 13, 2026

They can loiter over the battlefield as long as 20 hours on a single tank of fuel, allowing them to wait for mobile missile launchers to emerge from hiding and then strike them.

From The Wall Street Journal Mar. 16, 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

From 1:00 to 2:00 we linger and loiter.

From "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster

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

Most days, Margaret — a musician with anger issues and the eldest of Christina’s three daughters — loiters just outside this boundary, occasionally helping Marion practice her singing.

From New York Times Mar. 30, 2023

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

The indolent man sleeps as long as it is possible for him to sleep, dresses slowly, amuses himself in conversation with the first person that calls upon him, and loiters about till dinner.

From The Young Man's Guide by William A. (William Andrus) Alcott

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

A small, wiry, pockmarked young man with curly hair and a hard-to-place accent, he loitered in the area for hours, asking kitchen workers if his target would be coming that way.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 6, 2025

We loitered boisterously and we loitered in public.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

The sight of tankers loitering in the Sea of Azov off the north-eastern coast of occupied Crimea is common, as there is an onshore oil loading facility at Kerch port on the peninsula itself.

From BBC Jul. 9, 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

Over the past week, the ship broadcast that it was loitering off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to maritime-data firm Kpler.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 15, 2026

Along with making loitering munitions and surveillance drones, AeroVironment’s BlueHalo subsidiary makes LOCUST, a laser-based counter-unmanned system.

From Barron's Mar. 4, 2026

"But there were soldiers loitering on the corner. I didn't think it was safe to walk past them, so I hid in an alley like a street beggar until they left."

From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse




Vocabulary lists containing loiter


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