twiddle

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

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024

"I could either twiddle my thumbs or I could do something to help people and open," he said.

From Reuters ● Oct. 27, 2023

“You know it’s going to end. So you can’t just sit around and twiddle your thumbs.”

From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2021

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

“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

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

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

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

And no use just sitting there twiddling his thumbs till they needed him to hand up powder.

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