twiddle

Biden said he had tasked his entire administration with finding levers to pull and knobs to twiddle that might reduce inflation.

From Salon ● May 28, 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

“Don’t wear a necklace if you’re tempted to twiddle it,” advised the paper.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 19, 2020

“We might not have qualified for September’s debate, but we won’t sit by and twiddle our thumbs,” Mr. Ryan wrote in a fund-raising appeal Tuesday.

From New York Times ● Sep. 4, 2019

“I twiddle about with lines of verse now and then, but it’s only a hobby. In any case, thank you for indulging me.”

From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

For his part, Adam twiddles his own curly locks with one raised hand, seemingly in nervous anticipation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2024

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

One of the most stunning allegations Thursday was that while Ohtani twiddled his batting gloves, Mizuhara refused to allow anyone else on his business team to view Ohtani’s $16-million spigot.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2024

Ever since Singapore, Kim’s negotiators—many of whom have been at their jobs since the arms talks with the Clinton administration, a quarter-century ago—have pretty much twiddled their thumbs in their sessions with the U.S. team.

From Slate ● Oct. 4, 2018

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

From The Guardian ● May 5, 2018

Charles’s mom coyly twiddled her fingertips against her cheek.

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

“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

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

For now, I'll be twiddling my thumbs, waiting for Hollywood to come out with another Indian-American horror story soon.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2023

“Even if he whups ’em at Gettysburg, he’ll just sit on his hands twiddling about in the Pennsylvania rain until Lee regroups and has another go at it.”

From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older