to footle away
- phrasal verb
- UK
:
perder el tiempo
- She realized she had footled away hours scrolling through her phone.
Examples
-
You shouldn't footle away this opportunity to learn something new.
-
He tends to footle away most mornings instead of doing something productive.
-
Don't footle away your time!
-
He tends to footle away his weekends.
-
He often footles away his time instead of studying for the exam.
-
After finishing her chores, she decided to footle away the afternoon watching TV.
-
If you keep footling away, you'll never finish your project on time.
Synonyms
888
1.5
Spend time without any activity
728
1.6
To spend time doing things that are not useful instead of doing something more useful
4
6.0
Waste time or money on small unimportant things
4
6.8
To waste small amounts of time, money, or energy little by little
3
8.4
To spend time doing not important things in a relaxed way
2
8.6
To spend time doing very little and moving around without plans
2
7.9
To waste time and effort without making progress
2
9.5
To waste time instead of doing the work you need
1
8.7
To waste time doing small unimportant things
1
8.7
To spend time doing things that are not important
1
9.2
To spend time doing small unimportant things instead of working
1
9.6
To waste time doing small unimportant tasks
1
9.9
To spend time on small, unimportant tasks instead of getting things done
1
7.5
To keep doing the same task without getting anywhere
1
6.5
To spend time doing nothing in a lazy way
1
9.9
To waste time doing unimportant or silly things instead of doing something important
1
9.9
To waste time doing silly or lazy things instead of useful work
1
9.9
Move around without a clear plan or purpose
1
6.5
To move around slowly doing small jobs in no hurry
1
9.9
To waste time instead of doing something useful
To spend time idly on unimportant things
To waste time, money, or chances on things that do not matter
Spend time or money on unimportant things
To spend time doing small unimportant things with no real plan
To waste time instead of doing something useful
To waste time on small unimportant things
To spend time on things that are not useful
To pass time by doing something not useful while you wait
To waste time on busy work and make no progress
Antonyms
How Wasteful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'footle' means to waste time or behave foolishly and the particle 'away' conveys continued or dissipative action; the combined sense 'to waste time aimlessly' is directly derivable from these parts. Although 'footle' is relatively rare, the V + away compositional pattern is common in English (compare 'fritter away', 'while away'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Footle away comes from old British slang footle, meaning to play or act foolishly, and away adds the idea of time passing. Picture someone idly pushing small things about with their feet or doing tiny pointless jobs, and you can see why it now means 'to waste time'.