Loiter
verb
To hang about or stay somewhere without a purpose.
She was worried when she saw the group of men loitering near her car.
Often appears as...
- loiter around
- loiter near
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To move or travel very slowly.
He loiters on the way home from school every day.
Often appears as...
- loiter along
- loiter on the way
verb
To waste time.
The team can't afford to loiter in making a decision.
Often appears as...
- loiter in making a decision
- loiter over a task
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To remain in an area for no obvious reason.
The suspect was arrested for loitering in a restricted zone.
Often appears as...
- loiter in a restricted zone
- arrested for loitering
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To hang about or stay somewhere without a purpose.
She was worried when she saw the group of men loitering near her car.
Often appears as...
- loiter around
- loiter near
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To move or travel very slowly.
He loiters on the way home from school every day.
Often appears as...
- loiter along
- loiter on the way
verb
To waste time.
The team can't afford to loiter in making a decision.
Often appears as...
- loiter in making a decision
- loiter over a task
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To remain in an area for no obvious reason.
The suspect was arrested for loitering in a restricted zone.
Often appears as...
- loiter in a restricted zone
- arrested for loitering
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
Often implies unwanted presence or potential trouble.
Shopkeepers are wary of people loitering outside.
Pro Tip 2/3Societal Judgment
Can suggest laziness or suspicious behavior in social contexts.
Neighbors complained about teenagers loitering in the alley.
Pro Tip 3/3Informal Gatherings
Often used for casual, unintended meetings in public places.
We spent the afternoon loitering in the park, chatting.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
Often implies unwanted presence or potential trouble.
Shopkeepers are wary of people loitering outside.
Pro Tip 2/3Societal Judgment
Can suggest laziness or suspicious behavior in social contexts.
Neighbors complained about teenagers loitering in the alley.
Pro Tip 3/3Informal Gatherings
Often used for casual, unintended meetings in public places.
We spent the afternoon loitering in the park, chatting.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
Often implies unwanted presence or potential trouble.
Shopkeepers are wary of people loitering outside.
Pro Tip 2/3Societal Judgment
Can suggest laziness or suspicious behavior in social contexts.
Neighbors complained about teenagers loitering in the alley.
Pro Tip 3/3Informal Gatherings
Often used for casual, unintended meetings in public places.
We spent the afternoon loitering in the park, chatting.
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Video examples
The 5 Musketeers Have an...
river now typically the loiter herd does its own migration back towards the loiter hills unfortunately one of the realities of life is such that that migrational pattern has been changed and has been changed by the presence of fences
Video examples
Naima Penniman: "Being...
of being everywhere at once adapting to the mood swings of the weather if clouds drift off trying to hold themselves together make deals with gravity to loiter a little longer
Video examples
The 5 Musketeers Have an...
river now typically the loiter herd does its own migration back towards the loiter hills unfortunately one of the realities of life is such that that migrational pattern has been changed and has been changed by the presence of fences
Video examples
Naima Penniman: "Being...
of being everywhere at once adapting to the mood swings of the weather if clouds drift off trying to hold themselves together make deals with gravity to loiter a little longer
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
King Tuff
American Musician
I'm in East L.A., like Mount Washington, Highland Park. There's a little strip that they're gentrifying, trying to make a hip spot, but you go there, and it's just kind of barren. Nobody hangs out anywhere in L.A. There's no loitering in L.A., so I don't know what to do with myself.
Quote examples
Anthony Doerr
American Writer
Fiction writers have long turned to winter to advance bluer palettes, slicker surfaces, and sharper contrasts. The sky darkens, the wind picks up, and flakes start to fall. Horizons shrink. Couples bicker. Cars slide off roads. Obliteration tends to loiter between the sentences.
Quote examples
Ronnie Corbett
Scottish Comedian
I suppose to the outside world I do seem slightly obsessed. But I once had a balance problem with my inner ear, and the fear loitered. Yet I have found that golf is like a yoga procedure for me: it's had wonderful, sedative, remedial qualities for my day-to-day life.
Quote examples
Michelle Alexander
American Writer
After the end of slavery, African-American men were arrested in mass, and they were arrested for extremely minor crimes like loitering, standing around, vagrancy, or the equivalent of jaywalking - arrested and then sent to prison and then leased to plantations.
Quote examples
Cynthia Ozick
American Novelist
Sometimes writing has to be forced. In starting out, the shape and timbre and texture of what is to come is an uncertain chimera shimmering from behind a veil. You must not wait, loiter, dilly-dally. You must force your way painfully through.
Quote examples
Martha Beck
American Author
Expectation loiters in the DNA of every sentient being; when you tell yourself or a loved one, 'Don't get your hopes up,' you're fighting ancient genetic programming.
Quote examples
John Goodman
American Actor
Pardon me for loitering in front of an orchestra.
Quote examples
King Tuff
American Musician
I'm in East L.A., like Mount Washington, Highland Park. There's a little strip that they're gentrifying, trying to make a hip spot, but you go there, and it's just kind of barren. Nobody hangs out anywhere in L.A. There's no loitering in L.A., so I don't know what to do with myself.
Quote examples
Anthony Doerr
American Writer
Fiction writers have long turned to winter to advance bluer palettes, slicker surfaces, and sharper contrasts. The sky darkens, the wind picks up, and flakes start to fall. Horizons shrink. Couples bicker. Cars slide off roads. Obliteration tends to loiter between the sentences.
Quote examples
Ronnie Corbett
Scottish Comedian
I suppose to the outside world I do seem slightly obsessed. But I once had a balance problem with my inner ear, and the fear loitered. Yet I have found that golf is like a yoga procedure for me: it's had wonderful, sedative, remedial qualities for my day-to-day life.
Quote examples
Michelle Alexander
American Writer
After the end of slavery, African-American men were arrested in mass, and they were arrested for extremely minor crimes like loitering, standing around, vagrancy, or the equivalent of jaywalking - arrested and then sent to prison and then leased to plantations.
Quote examples
Cynthia Ozick
American Novelist
Sometimes writing has to be forced. In starting out, the shape and timbre and texture of what is to come is an uncertain chimera shimmering from behind a veil. You must not wait, loiter, dilly-dally. You must force your way painfully through.
Quote examples
Martha Beck
American Author
Expectation loiters in the DNA of every sentient being; when you tell yourself or a loved one, 'Don't get your hopes up,' you're fighting ancient genetic programming.
Quote examples
John Goodman
American Actor
Pardon me for loitering in front of an orchestra.
Example 1 of 7
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