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.

dawdling

dilly-dally

Waste time idly

piddle · twiddle · mess about · muck about · putter · fiddle-faddle · footle · fool around · monkey around · horse around

procrastinating

procrastinate

Delay action unnecessarily

  • stallEnclosed compartment or delay
  • tarryDelay one's leaving
  • delayEnforced waiting period

put off · drag feet · waste time · fritter · dawdle · loiter · linger · lollygag · kill time · malingering

ineffectual

bumble

Act clumsily or incompetently

muddle · botch · flail · stumble · blunder · mishandle · mess up · cock up · bodge · muff

Opposites
purposefulness

faffedfocused

Directing attention narrowly

concentrated · applied oneself · buckled down · knuckled down · got down to business

decisiveness

faffeddecided

Reached a conclusion

committed · took action · resolved · determined · acted

Phrases
Family

faff, faffing

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Timeless · Everyday, not technical · Rated G