puttered (around)

verb

past tense of putter (around)
as in fiddled (around)
to spend time in aimless activity I spent all weekend at home just puttering around

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for puttered (around)
  1. played
  2. fooled around
  3. messed around
Verb
  • Kelce played a bully of a restaurant manager who fires a busboy (played by Bad Bunny).
    — Amaris Encinas, USA Today, 8 July 2026
  • She has been featured in various TV shows, including an English show called Upstairs, Downstairs (1971), and played Desdemona in Broadway’s Othello before retiring in the early 1980s, per the Walt Disney Archives.
    — Chiara Kim, PEOPLE, 8 July 2026
Definition of played
Verb
  • Not too long ago, artificial intelligence was more or less a science project in which data scientists and developers fooled around with one-off small or test projects.
    — Joe McKendrick, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026
Definition of fooled around
Verb
  • Dragstrem, who focuses more on production, has messed around with it but was left unsatisfied; McGill, who’s more lyrics-driven, wants nothing to do with the tech.
    — Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 30 May 2026
  • In the email, Dixon suggested that the fire department employee may have messed around with the department's equipment.
    — Adam Thompson, CBS News, 5 Feb. 2026
Definition of messed around
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

putter (around)
puttered (around)
putterer
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Cite this Entry

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

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