idle
/'aidl/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Adjective:
- Not working or active; unemployed: Describes a person who is not engaged in work or a machine that is not in operation.
- Lazy; avoiding work: Characterizes a person who is habitually inactive or unwilling to work.
- Without purpose or effect; useless: Refers to actions, thoughts, or words that lack serious intent or meaningful result.
- Not based on fact or good reason; groundless: Describes fears, rumors, or talk that are unfounded.
Noun:
- The state of an engine running without transmitting power: The operating condition of a vehicle's engine when it is on but the vehicle is not moving.
Verb:
- To spend time doing nothing: To be inactive or lazy.
- To run without transmitting power: For an engine or mechanism to operate while disengaged from its load.
Usage and Examples
Adjective:
- The factory machines stood idle after the power outage.
- He was an idle worker, always finding excuses to avoid tasks.
- Don't pay attention to idle gossip; it's usually untrue.
- She had an idle fear of flying, despite its safety record.
Noun:
- The car's engine was at a smooth idle while waiting at the traffic light.
Verb (intransitive):
- He spent the afternoon idling in the park, watching people.
- Please don't let the engine idle for more than a minute; it wastes fuel.
Verb (transitive - usually "idle away"):
- They idled away the summer days by the lake.
- He idled his time away playing video games.
Advanced Usage and Nuances
"The idle rich": A phrase describing wealthy people who do not have to work for a living.
- The novel satirizes the frivolous lives of the idle rich.
"An idle mind is the devil's workshop": A proverb meaning that people who have nothing to do are more likely to think of or get into trouble.
Variants and Related Words
Idleness (n): The state of being idle; inactivity or laziness.
- A period of enforced idleness followed the factory closure.
Idly (adv): In an idle manner.
- She stared idly out of the window.
Synonyms
- Adjective (inactive): Unemployed, jobless, unused, dormant.
- Adjective (lazy): Indolent, slothful, shiftless.
- Adjective (groundless): Baseless, unfounded, unwarranted.
- Verb (loaf): Loiter, laze, lounge.
Antonyms
- Adjective: Active, busy, employed, industrious, purposeful.
- Verb: Work, labor, toil.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Idle away: To spend time unproductively.
- We idled away the hours chatting.
Idioms and Common Phrases
Lie idle: To remain unused or inactive.
- The stadium has lain idle for years.
Run/Burn idle: For an engine to operate while the vehicle is stationary.
- It's illegal to let your diesel truck run idle for long periods in this city.
Adjective
- not having a job
- idle carpenters
- jobless transients
- many people in the area were out of work
- not yielding a return
- dead capital
- idle funds
- lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility
- idle talk
- a loose tongue
- silly or trivial
- idle pleasure
- light banter
- light idle chatter
- not in active use
- the machinery sat idle during the strike
- idle hands
- without a basis in reason or fact
- baseless gossip
- the allegations proved groundless
- idle fears
- unfounded suspicions
- unwarranted jealousy
- not in action or at work
- an idle laborer
- idle drifters
- the idle rich
- an idle mind
Noun
- the state of an engine or other mechanism that is idling
- the car engine was running at idle
Verb
- be idle; exist in a changeless situation
- The old man sat and stagnated on his porch
- He slugged in bed all morning
- run disconnected or idle
- the engine is idling