pottering (around)

verb

present participle of potter (around)
as in fiddling (around)
to spend time in aimless activity pottering around indoors on a rainy day

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pottering (around)
  1. playing
  2. fooling around
  3. messing around
  4. hanging about
Verb
  • That’s because he wasn’t supposed to be playing in the game at one point.
    — Rashad Alexander, Kansas City Star, 8 July 2026
  • Rogers isn’t the only former Giant currently playing for the Blue Jays.
    — Justice delos Santos, Mercury News, 7 July 2026
Definition of playing
Verb
  • Zeus did not approve of his daughter fooling around with this mortal roughneck hunter and put out a hit on Orion.
    — Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 8 Mar. 2026
  • The transition was rough for Ansari, who wasn’t fluent in English and often got in trouble for fooling around in school.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 7 Feb. 2026
Definition of fooling around
Verb
  • Kylian liked messing around, having a laugh and telling jokes — just like the rest of us.
    — Tom Williams, New York Times, 16 June 2026
  • All of our memories are traveling the world, messing around, having fun, and being teenagers.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 22 May 2026
Definition of messing around
Verb
  • President James Garfield’s assassin, Charles Guiteau, died by hanging about five months after he was convicted of murder.
    — USA Today, USA Today, 17 June 2026
  • In 2019, city employees began hanging about 500 trick-or-treat pumpkin buckets in the trees on Main Street every October.
    — Elliott Harrell, Travel + Leisure, 18 Oct. 2025
Definition of hanging about
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

potteries
pottering (around)
potters (around)
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Cite this Entry

“Pottering (around).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pottering%20%28around%29. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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