loitering
Hanging around idly
Loitering is lingering in a public place without apparent purpose.
The word carries legal weight—loitering laws target people who hang around suspiciously or obstruct others: He was arrested for loitering outside the convenience store.
The term often criminalizes presence itself, disproportionately applied to homeless people, teenagers, and minorities.
Traveling with no fixed course
- meanderingFollowing a winding course
- driftingMoving without purpose
- saunteringWalking in unhurried manner
- roamingMoving without fixed purpose
strolling · ambling · moseying · dawdling · idling · tarrying · loafing · time-wasting
Unauthorized presence on property
- vagrancyOffense of rootless wandering
- ordinanceOfficial government regulation
- citationMention of a source
- enforcementCompelling compliance with rules
prohibition · misdemeanor · penalty · curfew · dispersal · banned · ejection · warning
Paved pedestrian pathway
- storefrontRetail facade facing street
- plazaPublic open square
- doorwayPassage into a room
- alleywayNarrow urban passage
mall · station · underpass · stoop · entrance · pedestrian · urban · gathering
Surveillance camera network
- patrolRegular surveillance route
- monitoringOngoing observation of something
- stakeoutProlonged covert observation
- watchfulCarefully attentive, observant
suspicious · observation · tracking · camera · detection · reporting · deterrent · posted
Unauthorized absence from school
- juvenileYoung person or animal
- gangsOrganized criminal groups
- underageBelow legal minimum years
- curfewMandated return time
skateboarding · delinquency · mischief · troublemaking · dropout · runaway · unsupervised · after-hours
wandering
Traveling with no fixed course
- meanderingFollowing a winding course
- driftingMoving without purpose
- saunteringWalking in unhurried manner
roaming · strolling · ambling · moseying · dawdling · idling · tarrying · loafing · time-wasting · purposeless
trespassing
Unauthorized presence on property
- vagrancyOffense of rootless wandering
- ordinanceOfficial government regulation
- citationMention of a source
enforcement · prohibition · misdemeanor · penalty · curfew · dispersal · banned · ejection · warning · fine
sidewalk
Paved pedestrian pathway
- storefrontRetail facade facing street
- plazaPublic open square
- doorwayPassage into a room
alleyway · mall · station · underpass · stoop · entrance · pedestrian · urban · gathering · congregation
CCTV
Surveillance camera network
- patrolRegular surveillance route
- monitoringOngoing observation of something
- stakeoutProlonged covert observation
watchful · suspicious · observation · tracking · camera · detection · reporting · deterrent · posted · scrutiny
truancy
Unauthorized absence from school
curfew · skateboarding · delinquency · mischief · troublemaking · dropout · runaway · unsupervised · after-hours · arcade
- bylaw violationsparking violations, parking tickets, zoning violations, building code violations, fire code violations
- Infractionsjaywalking, littering, speeding, trespassing, parking violation
- misdemeanorsmisdemeanor, petty theft, disorderly conduct, public intoxication, petty larceny
- vagrancypanhandling, begging, homelessness, itinerancy, mendicancy
- delaysdelays, delay, delayed, postponement, postpone
- idle timekilling time, passing time, wasting time, whiling away, doing nothing
loiteringhurrying
Moving with urgent speed
rushing · hastening · proceeding · moving along · passing through
- loitering lawsStatutes criminalizing idle presence
- no loitering sign
linger, loiter, lingering, loiterer, lingered, loitered, loiters, lingerer, loiterers