How to Use idle in a Sentence

idle

1 of 2 adjective
  • There has been a lot of idle speculation about what might happen, but no one really knows.
  • So the port’s two dry docks lay idle.
    — Carl Nolte, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Mar. 2026
  • There are no crepes sitting idle.
    — Amy Drew Thompson, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 May 2026
  • Colbert doesn’t plan to be idle for long.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 20 May 2026
  • Sleep, and your twenty agents sit idle.
    — Philip Maymin, Forbes.com, 25 May 2026
  • But that doesn't mean children should sit idle.
    — Jennifer Jay Palumbo, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
  • The group has pushed to speed up capping idle wells.
    — Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Feb. 2026
  • But when that noise quiets, the brain doesn’t just go idle.
    — Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 13 Aug. 2025
  • The Aztecs were idle over the weekend.
    — Kirk Kenney, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Sep. 2025
  • Most large fortunes are not sitting in piles of idle cash.
    — Veronique De Rugy, Oc Register, 5 Feb. 2026
  • But the band haven’t been idle in the interim.
    — Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 11 Nov. 2025
  • The idle week provides time to look back and map out the future.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 22 Nov. 2025
  • The 13 or so ships trapped in the harbor will sit idle for weeks.
    — Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 31 Mar. 2024
  • Standard charging can slow things down if trucks have to sit idle for too long.
    — Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 22 June 2026
  • Those with cars idle bumper to bumper along a two-mile, softly sloping bridge.
    — Liam Dillon, Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Check your tire when its cold or after the vehicle has been idle.
    — Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 Jan. 2026
  • Students who are lonely and idle need something to fill their days.
    — Frederick M. Hess, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
  • And yet most of it is just sitting there, completely idle.
    — Luke Xie, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025
  • But for now, people’s skates have been packed away, and the group’s shovels have been idle.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 30 Jan. 2023
  • As a result, some servers sit idle while others struggle to keep up.
    — Divya Mahajan, The Conversation, 3 Sep. 2025
  • The shot clock is now running—this carrier can’t just sit idle.
    — Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Nov. 2025
  • The shot clock is now running—this carrier can’t just sit idle.
    — Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Nov. 2025
  • Countywide, most of the idle wells are in areas near the coast.
    — Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Feb. 2026
  • There is more than idle curiosity at stake here.
    — Jenny Odell, Longreads, 2 June 2026
  • Given his actions so far, why do so many people seem to shrug this off as idle talk?
    — Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Nov. 2025
  • Tables lined with blue picnic tablecloths sat idle.
    — Briah Lumpkins, Charlotte Observer, 25 Feb. 2026
  • But the effort to get his orchestra on its feet was not an idle gesture.
    — Classical Music Critic, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2026
  • These standards do not sit idle as decoration on a break room wall.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 27 Oct. 2022
  • The New York Post snapped close-up photos of the idle boat.
    — Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 17 Apr. 2026
  • BelAir was struck by footage of inmates standing idle and had an idea.
    — Rick Maese, Anchorage Daily News, 23 Feb. 2023

idle

2 of 2 verb
  • A group of boys idled in the doorway.
  • The cars idled in traffic.
  • The factory has been idled by the strike.
  • She left the engine idling for a few seconds before she turned it off.
  • Thousands of workers have been idled by the bad economy.
  • The factory closed, idling several hundred workers.
  • Dreams aren’t the brain idling.
    — Allison Palmer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 May 2026
  • Dreams aren’t the brain idling.
    — Allison Palmer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 May 2026
  • The film just idles on the runway.
    — Tim Grierson, Vulture, 18 Oct. 2025
  • Also, three cars, idling in front of my house.
    — Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Police had found the 31-year-old’s car still idling.
    — Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 10 Nov. 2025
  • Why are states trying to reduce car idling?
    — Anna Kleiber, USA Today, 24 Jan. 2026
  • The transcripts moved with her, idling among her papers.
    — Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
  • Which states have laws leaving your car idling to warm it up in the winter?
    — Anna Kleiber, USA Today, 24 Jan. 2026
  • Cars should not be left to idle in garages attached to homes, even if the garage door is left open.
    — NBC News, 29 Apr. 2021
  • An idling car uses only one gallon of gas per hour.
    — Ryan Murphy, IndyStar, 29 Nov. 2025
  • The family came home one night to find a car idling in their driveway.
    — Kevin Sullivan, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Aug. 2023
  • His home studio overlooks half a dozen speedboats idled at a dock.
    — Jeff Weiss, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2023
  • The gas plants are paid to idle and be ready, at significant cost.
    — James Conca, Forbes, 7 July 2021
  • However, the game doesn’t boot players who idle for too long.
    — Eric Ravenscraft, Wired, 26 Dec. 2021
  • Two women in a small, idling sedan, and the driver rolled down her window.
    — Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Does idling your car really burn that much fuel?
    — Ryley Amond, CNBC, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Neurobots spend less time idling and more time exploring.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 31 Mar. 2026
  • One young, white worker stuck his middle finger in the face of agents idling in their car.
    — Cengiz Yar, ProPublica, 31 Jan. 2026
  • The boat was idling when his dog was hit by the blades, Johnson said in the release.
    — Mark Price, Miami Herald, 12 Sep. 2025
  • Is idling better than restarting my engine?
    — Idaho Statesman, 11 May 2026
  • Two other girls were idling in a car parked out front, waiting for her, playing music.
    — Literary Hub, 8 Dec. 2025
  • As your car idles, warm air blown from the top of your dashboard will melt the ice on the outside of the windshield.
    — Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 27 Dec. 2025
  • It’s clearly meant for more than weekend grocery runs and daily school drop-off idling.
    — New Atlas, 22 Nov. 2025
  • Delivery boats idled with engines cut.
    — Vic O'Sullivan, Travel + Leisure, 4 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'idle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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