wasted time

VERB

idle away time

Synonyms

WEAK

burn daylight dally dawdle delay dillydally fiddle about fritter away time goof off kill time linger loiter lollygag lose time pass the time piddle procrastinate shilly-shally take one's own sweet time take one's time tarry while away the time

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.

He was a high-flying corporate lawyer, who viewed downtime as "wasted time", restlessly pushing himself to success.

From BBC • Feb. 11, 2026

"I'm Crystal Palace manager. It just makes no sense and it's wasted time for you to ask me any more questions so I don't talk about any other club."

From Barron's • Jan. 6, 2026

“That gave us pretty good confidence that we should just cancel,” he said, “and save her a ton of wasted time and pain.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 15, 2025

First, indecision and wasted time limit one’s latitude for action and will lead to defeat.

From Salon • Jul. 3, 2025

Instead, we’d wasted time explaining ourselves to Styx Malone.

From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon