twiddled one's thumbs
Waited doing nothing
Twiddled one's thumbs is the past tense of twiddle one's thumbs—to rotate one's thumbs idly around each other, and by extension, to wait with nothing useful to do.
The phrase emphasizes boredom or enforced inactivity: I sat in the waiting room and twiddled my thumbs for an hour.
It often carries a note of frustration at being unable to act.
- fidgetedMoved restlessly from unease
- wasted timeHours spent unproductively
- sat aroundRemained idle somewhere
- marked timeWaited without progressing
- waited aroundStayed expecting something
procrastinated · bided one's time · stood by · cooling one's heels · killed time · daydreamed · loafed around · kicked back · treaded water · dilly-dallied · languished · spaced out · zoned out · held off
twiddled one's thumbsworked hard
got busy · buckled down · toiled · labored · hustled
twiddled one's thumbstook action
Responded with effort
seized the day · took the bull by the horns · made headway · hit the ground running · made progress
twiddled one's thumbstook action
Responded with effort
applied oneself · engaged · concentrated · participated · got involved
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