twiddle

Yet, Eggers was not one to sit and twiddle his thumbs.

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024

"It's July 2023. Building out the leadership of that operation today, so they can sit around and twiddle their thumbs for the next six months would be nuts," he said.

From Reuters ● Jul. 18, 2023

We have no more time to twiddle our collective thumbs.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 11, 2020

When Perry began his formal prayer, Trump assumed a posture of piety — eyes closed, bowed head, clasped hands — but began to twiddle his thumbs and briefly opened his eyes.

From New York Times ● Oct. 29, 2019

When he heard her coming, he would lay aside his work, lean back, and twiddle his thumbs.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

Abrasive, shallow and giddily watchable, her Wow Platinum — what a name! — twiddles her clawed fingers like a femme fatale dead certain she can charm her way to the top.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2025

Liberated from chronology and fact, the comedy-drama twiddles the timeline of Catherine’s career and marriage.

From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2021

“We can’t afford to allow more devastation to be caused to the park while the Park Service twiddles their thumbs trying to come up with an expensive plan,” Gosar said in a statement this week.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 26, 2016

Eye blinks, finger twiddles, fidgeting — there’s no detail too small for the timer to add to the exposure sheet, ensuring the team in LA maximum control over what the South Korean animation studio delivers.

From The Verge ● Oct. 25, 2015

It twiddles along for a minute through the air and lands on the brown ottoman, which enrages my mother because it didn’t fall fast enough or land hard enough.

From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson

You could follow the text at the bottom of the screen, but most people just twiddled their thumbs and waited.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2025

There was a woman in a leather hat complaining that she had been treated rudely by a county worker, a man watching while he twiddled a Rubik’s Cube.

From New York Times ● Nov. 5, 2022

Give me the name of an unexpected collaborator and chances are he’s twiddled knobs in their vicinity.

From The Guardian ● May 5, 2018

The board and some investors seemed to have twiddled their thumbs while the wreckage piled up, possibly hoping that Charney would eventually bring back the magic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2016

His moustache rode up and down like a wooly worm as he twiddled his lips, studying me.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

“It’s not like we’re twiddling our thumbs and trying to get some money. This is a very serious condition,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2026

Meanwhile Miami, which had been ranked behind Notre Dame, and like the Irish, had been inactive and twiddling thumbs over conference championship weekend, vaulted over South Bend.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025

Not that the Russian automobile industry is sitting twiddling its thumbs.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2024

The court granted cert to the case on Wednesday, after twiddling its thumbs for 16 days, and it scheduled oral arguments for April 22.

From Slate ● Mar. 2, 2024

“More tea, I think,” said Dumbledore, closing the door behind Harry, Ron, and Hermione, drawing out his wand, and twiddling it; a revolving tea tray appeared in midair along with a plate of cakes.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling