hang around

verb

hung around; hanging around; hangs around

1

intransitive, informal

a

: to pass time idly or in relaxing or socializing

spent the day just hanging around with her friends

b

: to stay in or at a place for a period of time

had to hang around for over an hour, waiting for the bus

She didn't feel like hanging around at the club afterward …

—David Calder

2

transitive informal : to pass time or stay in or at (a place) or in the company of (someone)

hung around the house all day

My mother doesn't want me hanging around the park alone.

—Judy Blume

When he was 10 years old, Lester taught him-self to windsurf by hanging around the Europeans and Canadian tourists who rented boards on the beach at Varadero.

—Sam Moses

Synonyms

• abide
• dwell
• remain
• stay
• stick around
• tarry

Examples of hang around in a Sentence

if you hang around until my husband gets home, you can meet him

Recent Examples on the Web

When a sports team loses, its fans don’t hang around for the postgame show. —Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times, 11 Dec. 2024

And the things that aren’t done can hang around forever, right? —Jem Aswad, Variety, 11 Dec. 2024

This suggests that the AI was in a sense groping for an answer, didn’t have one hanging around, and thus sought to come up with an answer anyway. —Lance Eliot, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024

Four days after the robbery Cardenas and Ramos said a group of six kids, five boys and one girl, were hanging around in front of the store. —Glynis Kazanjian, Baltimore Sun, 27 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1823, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

hang around

verb

informal

: to pass time or stay idly in or at

hung around the house all day