twiddle
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:
"I could either twiddle my thumbs or I could do something to help people and open," he said.
From Reuters ● Oct. 27, 2023
“Don’t wear a necklace if you’re tempted to twiddle it,” advised the paper.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 19, 2020
Michael Connelly’s detective is never one to twiddle thumbs, of course.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2019
"I believe it would be my statutory right to just sit here and twiddle my thumbs while you all ask questions," he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 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
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
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
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
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
