loiter
Americanverb (used without object)
-
loiters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
loitered,
past participle, past
-
loitering
present participle
-
to linger aimlessly or as if aimless in or about a place.
to loiter around the bus terminal.
- Synonyms:
- loaf
-
to move in a slow, idle manner, making purposeless stops in the course of a trip, journey, errand, etc..
to loiter on the way to work.
-
to waste time or dawdle over work.
He loiters over his homework until one in the morning.
verb (used with object)
-
loiters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
loitered,
past participle, past
-
loitering
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
Loiter, dally, dawdle, idle imply moving or acting slowly, stopping for unimportant reasons, and in general wasting time. To loiter is to linger aimlessly: to loiter outside a building. To dally is to loiter indecisively or to delay as if free from care or responsibility: to dally on the way home. To dawdle is to saunter, stopping often, and taking a great deal of time, or to fritter away time working in a halfhearted way: to dawdle over a task. To idle is to move slowly and aimlessly, or to spend a great deal of time doing nothing: to idle away the hours.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
loitersimple
-
loiterssimple
-
have loiteredperfect
-
has loiteredperfect
-
am loiteringprogressive
-
are loiteringprogressive
-
is loiteringprogressive
-
have been loiteringperfect progressive
-
has been loiteringperfect progressive
Past
-
loiteredsimple
-
had loiteredperfect
-
was loiteringprogressive
-
were loiteringprogressive
-
had been loiteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of loiter
First recorded before 1300–50; Middle English loteren, loytren, perhaps from Middle Dutch loteren “to stagger, totter”; compare Dutch leuteren “to dawdle”
Explanation
To loiter is to hang around a place with no real purpose, usually somewhere where you are not welcome — like under the “No Loitering” sign at a convenience store. If you’re a dawdler, or a loafer, then you are probably inclined to loiter from time to time. The verb loiter is similar to “hang out,” but it has a more negative connotation and is sometimes associated with acting illegally. You might hang out at your friend’s house watching movies, but you would loiter by the vending machine at school when you are supposed be in class.
Vocabulary lists containing loiter
Fever 1793
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Ghost
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 19–24
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We watched as a red icon representing a drone appeared to loiter over Kyiv, practically above our heads at one point.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
“If they happen to loiter in an area of interest, we go to investigate that and ask the questions.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
At a time when the most exciting films were 10 seconds of a train, bored teenagers probably would go berserk at the chance to loiter near an obelisk.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
During this phase, the spacecraft will follow a large "loiter" orbit that stretches roughly 2 million miles from Earth.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2026
It gives us a reason to loiter in the area.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
Alexis Perez, 52, loiters beside the settlement where he typically spends two weeks straight, working 12-hour days before returning to his family.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Seemingly intent on not losing her, McSweeney follows the woman into a shop, then loiters outside until she emerges.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2022
Besides being a novelty that loiters around your home, Amazon expects us to burden the Astro with tasks like elder care and home security.
From The Verge ● Oct. 2, 2021
I had hoped that “A House Tour” would create a kind of memory palace, a mansion of the mind, but it just loiters, endlessly, in the gutters.
From New York Times ● May 3, 2021
Mrs. Grandon's invitation is for a week, and Eugene takes her down in the morning, and loiters most of the day in the seductive house.
From Floyd Grandon's Honor by Amanda Minnie Douglas
A gaggle of reporters and neighbors loitered around the property filming as a helicopter hovered overhead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026
In the days, weeks and months leading up to the release of “Michael,” the one question that loitered at the top of my mind was why Jackson’s estate wasn’t content to leave well enough alone.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
He loitered in the streets with his friends and called them “my pippin.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
Border Patrol cops loitered on the sidewalks of a popular nightlife strip, where they got an earful from a passerby in a pink pointelle shirt.
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2025
But sometimes if you loitered long enough in the schoolyard, the other children would have gone home and you could play with the equipment before the office took it away.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
Ciara Squires, a 34-year-old nurse, said she had also seen at least two people outside her window and found it frightening to return home because people were often loitering outside.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
“For privacy purposes, they’re not flying just in the sky and loitering, they’re responding at the onset of a call, usually through 9-1-1,” Warner said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
Aevex External link is a California-based maker of drones and loitering munitions that recently completed its IPO External link on April 17.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
The Defense Department last week paid AeroVironment $186 million for the first procurement in a five-year, $990 million contract for its Switchblade loitering missile systems.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 2, 2026
"Of course you can. Lobbies are made for loitering."
From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
