not working or active; unemployed; doing nothing

idle workers.

not spent or filled with activity

idle hours.

not in use or operation; not kept busy

idle machinery.

habitually doing nothing or avoiding work; lazy.

of no real worth, importance, or significance

idle talk.

having no basis or reason; baseless; groundless

idle fears.

frivolous; vain

idle pleasures.

meaningless; senseless

idle threats.

futile; unavailing

idle rage.

to pass time doing nothing.

to move, loiter, or saunter aimlessly

to idle along the avenue.

(of a machine, engine, or mechanism) to operate at a low speed, disengaged from the load.

to pass (time) doing nothing (often fol. by away )

to idle away the afternoon.

to cause (a person) to be idle

The strike idled many workers.

to cause (a machine, engine, or mechanism) to idle

I waited in the car while idling the engine.

the state or quality of being idle.

the state of a machine, engine, or mechanism that is idling

a cold engine that stalls at idle.

noun

action , ambition , busyness , diligence , employment , hustle , industry , labor , occupation , work

noun

dawdling , dilly-dallying , dormancy , droning , goof-off time , hibernation , inactivity , indolence , inertia , joblessness , laze , lazing , leisure , lethargy , loafing , loitering , otiosity , own sweet time , pottering , shiftlessness , sloth , slothfulness , slouch , slowness , sluggishness , stupor , time on one’s hands , time to burn , time to kill , time-wasting , torpidity , torpor , trifling , truancy , unemployment , vegetating , inertness , inoperativeness , stagnation , sluggardness