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

After engaging the system, you can twiddle your toes and put your hands in the air like you just don’t care.

From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2022

We have no more time to twiddle our collective thumbs.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 11, 2020

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

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

Facebook Twitter Pinterest In Spike Jonze’s Her, a goofy Joaquin Phoenix twiddles his way into an idyllic relationship with his charming operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 28, 2016

“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

He twiddles his thumbs and takes a few measured breaths.

From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy

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

They all largely twiddled their thumbs as accusations mounted that much was unhealthy in the GET-THIN campaign.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2021

Attempting to locate one of the rarest animals on the planet, US government scientist Joe Madison pointed an antiquated VHF tracking antenna at a tangle of thick vegetation and twiddled some dials on the receiver.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 7, 2019

For 16 days, around 800,000 government employees twiddled their thumbs.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2014

The wizard went back to the desk, sat down, and twiddled his thumbs, watching the door.

From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling

Swinney accused UK ministers of "twiddling their thumbs" while the cost of living for rural households skyrockets.

From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2026

“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

Well, it’s my idea that in all these interludes, whenever Dave became a psychiatric case, he went off into a moronic maze, spending his time twiddling his fingers.”

From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov