faffed
Puttered about aimlessly
Faffed is the past tense of faff, British slang meaning to waste time on trivial activities or fuss about ineffectually: We faffed around for an hour before leaving.
To faff is to be busy without accomplishing much—puttering, dithering, or making unnecessary adjustments.
He faffed with the settings instead of just starting.
Waste time idly
- shilly-shallyVacillate through indecision
- ditherNervous inability to choose
- potterMaker of clay vessels
- piddleDally or urinate
twiddle · mess about · muck about · putter · fiddle-faddle · footle · fool around · monkey around
dilly-dally
Waste time idly
- shilly-shallyVacillate through indecision
- ditherNervous inability to choose
- potterMaker of clay vessels
piddle · twiddle · mess about · muck about · putter · fiddle-faddle · footle · fool around · monkey around · horse around
procrastinate
Delay action unnecessarily
put off · drag feet · waste time · fritter · dawdle · loiter · linger · lollygag · kill time · malingering
bumble
Act clumsily or incompetently
muddle · botch · flail · stumble · blunder · mishandle · mess up · cock up · bodge · muff
faffedfocused
Directing attention narrowly
concentrated · applied oneself · buckled down · knuckled down · got down to business
faffeddecided
Reached a conclusion
committed · took action · resolved · determined · acted
- faffing aroundAimless, unproductive activity
- faff aroundIdle without purpose
- faffing aboutAimless time-wasting
- faff aboutIdle ineffectually
- faffed aboutIdled without purpose
- faffed aroundSpent time ineffectually