🚫 A child abuser 🛋️ A time-waster 💸 A small cheat

diddler

1 9.9

A person who wastes time and does no real work

noun
/ˈdɪd.lər/

Informal

: vago

Rather than finishing his project, he became just another diddler at the coffee shop.

Examples

My brother is a notorious diddler who can waste hours doing nothing productive.
I bet you denouement-diddlers never read it, did you?

Fiction book (1994)
He spent the whole afternoon as a diddler, failing to accomplish anything useful.

Synonyms

do-nothing

vsdiddler

Offensive

9 7.0

A person who avoids work and makes little effort

is more about silly aimless behaviour rather than total inactivity

idler

vsdiddler

Offensive

2 7.0

A person who avoids work and does very little

is more about silly aimless wasting rather than chronic laziness

goof-off

vsdiddler

Informal

2 8.6

A person who avoids work and wastes time

is more aimless and silly rather than deliberately avoiding duties

futz

vsdiddler

Offensive

1 9.9

A person who wastes time and does little work

implies silly aimless behaviour rather than inherent incompetence or ineffectiveness

putterer

vsdiddler

Informal

1 8.9

A person who spends time doing small, unimportant jobs like fixing things in a garden

is more silly and aimless rather than merely casual and unhurried

dallier

vsdiddler

1 9.5

A person who wastes time and does not make decisions or take action

is more about silly aimless behaviour rather than decision avoidance

dawdler

vsdiddler

1 7.1

A person who moves slowly and wastes time

is more silly and aimless rather than simply slow in action

piddler

vsdiddler

Informal

9.7

A person who wastes time on small unimportant tasks instead of doing useful work

is more about silly aimless behaviour rather than trivial task focus

potterer

vsdiddler

9.9

A person who spends time doing small, unimportant tasks slowly

tends to be sillier and more unproductive than merely aimless activity

fritterer

vsdiddler

8.9

A person who wastes time or money on unimportant things

focuses on wasting time and behaviour rather than broader resource loss

dillydallier

vsdiddler

Informal

8.6

A person who wastes time by being slow to act or decide

is more silly and aimless rather than mainly slow or indecisive

Antonyms

productive

293 3.5

Able to do a lot and get useful results

serious-minded

2 4.7

A person who thinks carefully and acts in a calm, sincere way

Compounds

child diddler

Offensive

9.9

A person who sexually abuses children

How Productive

worker

600 1.0

diddler

Informal

1 9.9

dawdler

1 7.1

goof-off

Informal

2 8.6

idler

Offensive

2 7.0

Surface Forms

diddler singular

diddlers plural

Morphology

diddler = diddle (transparent) = diddle + er

Agentive formation from the verb sense 'to diddle' meaning 'to trifle or waste time', so 'diddler' = one who dawdles is directly predictable.

Etymology

Diddler can also come from diddle in the sense 'to play about' or 'to waste time', much like the word fiddle when you 'fiddle' instead of work. So a diddler can mean a person who is silly or never gets real work done.