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Can anybody tell me what the word for "doing useless things while you don't have anything to do" is?

Let's say I am surfing on the web, reading some articles, etc. while I don't have anything to do. It is not computer related. I am looking for a broad term.

I've checked the synonyms of "killing time" and these are what I've found:

  • dawdle
  • hang around
  • idle
  • kill time
  • lark: (v) play boisterously
  • mess around
  • play around

It seems lark can work for this case.

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  • 1
    Related to this is Procrastination, which is to waste time on unimportant things whilst there is something important that could be being done instead.
    – Andy F
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 20:32
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    Regarding the synonyms for killing time: Actually, lark doesn't work at all. Well, you could kill time by larking, but by and large people kill time in ways that are neither boisterous nor prankish.
    – John Y
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 21:31
  • I am not an English native speaker but I once heard the expression "to drift" and it was explained to me that it meant "to kill time" or something similar. The person who used it is from Northern Ireland. Does anyone know this expression?
    – Giorgio
    Commented Sep 13, 2011 at 5:09
  • what's wrong with "to kill time"?
    – Louis Rhys
    Commented Sep 13, 2011 at 6:41
  • 1
    @Louis Rhys: it gets you into jail
    – Lie Ryan
    Commented Sep 13, 2011 at 7:54

9 Answers 9

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15

Killing time is a common idiom for this kind of activity.

Example (from Dictionary.com definition 51 of time): While I was waiting, I killed time counting the cars on the freight trains.

Sometimes it carries the connotation that you have something better to do that you could be doing, but it is definitely used in this sense as well, as in the example.

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  • 3
    +1. I was about to say procrastinating but that's not right.
    – user10893
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 20:12
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I use the word diddle or diddle away. I've also heard putter, as in: My grandfather likes to putter in the garden. Merriam-Webster online seems to support the definitions:

diddle: fiddle, toy —usually used with with

putter: : 1. to move or act aimlessly or idly 2.to work at random : tinker

And, I guesss tinker might work too.

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  • Putter is much more apt than diddle or tinker. (See Monica Cellio's answer. Yes, I realize hers was a minute later.)
    – John Y
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 21:18
  • Yeah, sorry -- I didn't see the "this page has been updated" notice this time.
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 21:28
  • In the UK this is called "pottering" - en.wiktionary.org/wiki/potter_about
    – Groky
    Commented Sep 13, 2011 at 1:58
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"Twiddling one's thumbs" comes to mind.

Related, but more towards doing something that appears to be useful instead of the actual job is "pencil sharpening".

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For one word, you could say one is idling or being idle:

to spend time doing nothing important

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    But I am doing something even though it is useless. idle means doing nothing according to the link.
    – Tarik
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 20:16
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    I updated the link. It means doing nothing important--"nothing" as in "not work"
    – user10893
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 20:31
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I up-voted "killing time", but for a single word I've also heard "puttering" (or sometimes "puttering around").

From here:

  1. Occupy oneself in a desultory but pleasant manner, doing a number of small tasks or not concentrating on anything particular

    • early morning is the best time of the day to putter around in the garden

  2. Move or go in a casual, unhurried way

    • the duck putters on the surface of the pond
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    I usually hear "putter about" rather than "putter" on its own.
    – Karl Knechtel
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 21:12
  • I kinda like the word putter :) Thanks for the word.
    – Tarik
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 21:14
  • @Monica: While your one-word answer is contained in Brian's entry and appeared a minute later, yours is still better because (1) the presentation is better, and (2) it isn't cluttered by words that are less appropriate than putter. (And (3) I agree that "killing time" is the single best answer to the original question.)
    – John Y
    Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 21:50
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One that's commonly used in Australia, is "mucking around" (often "Muck about"):

(intransitive) To do random unplanned work or spend time idly

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  • Nice to know. +1
    – Tarik
    Commented Sep 13, 2011 at 16:32
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Also consider using: -- 'I whiled away the time surfing some articles on the web'. -- 'I frittered away time surfing the Internet'.

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In the context of browsing around, there is "wilfing", short for "What was I Looking For?" But its more apt when you are putting off more important work.

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/04/word-of-day-wilfing-what-was-i-looking.html

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Consider doodle.

doodle: US to kill time

I sat and doodled counting machines.

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