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waste time (third-person singular simple present wastes time, present participle wasting time, simple past and past participle wasted time)

1. To allow time to elapse in an unproductive manner.
   • 1973, “Sad Song”, in Berlin, performed by Lou Reed:

     I'm gonna stop wastin' my time / Somebody else would have broken both of her arms

   • 2006, Matt Bellamy, “Knights of Cydonia”, in Black Holes and Revelations, performed by Muse:

     Don't waste your time or time will waste you.

   • 2025 February 5, Richard Wilcock, “GBR searches for answers to ticketing simplification”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 26:

     Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has wasted no time.

• dally; dawdle; dick around (American, vulgar), fiddlefart, fiddlefuck; faff about, fanny about, fiddle about, fritter, fuck around (vulgar), goof off, piddle around, about, or away (British, idiomatic); piss away, about, or around (vulgar); slack off, screw around

• time-waste