to twiddling thumbs
4
5.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
no hacer nada
- How long can I sit here twiddling my thumbs?
- sit and twiddle your thumbs
- twiddling your thumbs, waiting
Now Chiang Kai Shek is sitting in Taiwan, you know, twiddling his thumbs.
- Now Chiang Kai Shek is sitting in Taiwan, you know, twiddling his thumbs.
- The point is we have stem cells available to us, but they just sit there and twiddle their thumbs until they're called into action.
- And the the way the Democrats sit around and twiddle their thumbs on this shit, they should have acted swiftly and quickly.
Examples
-
Either way, you're first up for Nintendo's brand new system, so we expect you to be rushing home, impatiently twiddling your thumbs as the day one update installs, and then playing games, games, and more games.
Blog text (11) -
Guess I'm gonna go twiddle my thumbs until my boyfriend gets back from the moon in a couple of months.
Blog text (9) -
Hate to see you two guys just sitting around, twiddling your thumbs.
-
We were twiddling our thumbs, waiting for something really big to sink our teeth into.
Fiction book (2001) -
I get the feeling our representatives just sit around twiddling their thumbs while others are working hard for their constituents.
Blog text (16) -
But you can't just sit and twiddle your thumbs when you live in the countryside.
Fiction book (1996) -
Are you now suggesting that the artists start twiddling their thumbs while coders code?
Blog text (17) -
I won't sit there twiddling my thumbs while they break for commercials every five minutes.
Fiction book (2000) -
Markets will apparently be closed tomorrow (Tuesday) as well, according to the latest news release, so we will all have to sit and twiddle our thumbs as we cannot do any trading.
Blog text (11) -
While I waited for the meeting to start, I found myself twiddling my thumbs and wondering what to do next.
Synonyms
888
1.5
Spend time without any activity
71
2.5
To spend time doing nothing while waiting for someone or something
17
5.0
Move or act slowly and waste time, causing delay
12
8.1
Not do anything when action is needed
3
6.3
Spend time waiting without making progress, doing unproductive things
3
7.9
Spend time doing very little or nothing
2
8.6
To spend time doing very little and moving around without plans
1
9.2
To spend time doing small unimportant things instead of working
1
8.7
To waste time doing small unimportant things
1
3.2
To spend time doing nothing
1
7.4
To do nothing when someone should act
1
6.8
Do nothing while waiting for something to happen
To spend time doing small unimportant things with no real plan
Spend time or money on unimportant things
To waste time on small unimportant things
Antonyms
How Idle
888
1.5
2
5.0
- Informal
4
5.8
- Informal
71
2.5
565
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the parts: 'twiddle' = move something with the fingers absentmindedly and 'thumbs' = the digits, so the phrase describes fiddling with one's thumbs and by extension being idle. This literal action-to-meaning mapping (idle/doing nothing) is salient and gesture-based, making it predictable for a learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Twiddling thumbs comes from the picture of someone slowly turning or twisting their thumbs around their fingers when they are bored and have nothing to do. This small action, a twiddle, made the phrase mean 'doing nothing' or 'being idle', so we use it today for waiting or wasting time.