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

“What are the rest of us supposed to do? Just twiddle our thumbs and send players and capital over to Europe?” said Montagliani, a Canadian.

From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2022

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

From The Guardian ● Sep. 19, 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

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

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

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

Alma’s poltergeist not only twiddled necklaces but sprang them from shop counters; it whipped saucers across rooms, upended eiderdowns, spun rings on to fingers.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 19, 2020

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

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2014

Mr. Hrbik frowned and twiddled his pencil and said nothing.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

“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

He leans back in his chair, twiddling his moustache.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen