How to Use twiddle in a Sentence

twiddle

verb

• She twiddled her pen while she talked on the phone.
• She twiddled with her pen while she talked on the phone.
• Twiddle the knob on the telescope until things are in focus.
• Just twiddle the dial on the radio a bit for better reception.
• What if the Suns make a big move, while the Warriors twiddle their thumbs?
  — Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Feb. 2022
• The agents sat in bars and cafés twiddling their thumbs over smartphones.
  — Karan Mahajan, The New Republic, 26 Mar. 2018
• The Eleven didn't twiddle their thumbs waiting around to open the scoring.
  — Kevin Johnson, Indianapolis Star, 14 Apr. 2018
• That's a long time to be sitting there twiddling your thumbs.
  — Evan Halper, latimes.com, 9 May 2017
• No wonder Elon Musk has the time to twiddle his thumbs on Twitter.
  — Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2022
• Still, the Peninsula, known for its fleet of 14 Rolls-Royce Phantoms, isn’t twiddling its thumbs.
  — Christopher Cameron, Robb Report, 12 Nov. 2023
• Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel are waiting for teams to stop twiddling their thumbs.
  — Ben Cohen, WSJ, 6 Feb. 2019
• There is a bee twiddling its legs on the moonlit dashboard of Bill Crawford’s pickup.
  — Krista Stevens, Longreads, 9 Aug. 2023
• With only a first-round pick in the rounds 1-3, the normally active Roseman might be hard-pressed to twiddle his thumbs for two rounds.
  — Jeff McLane, Philly.com, 23 Apr. 2018
• In today's world of smart phones, you'll never be left to twiddle your thumbs, so plan to arrive early and catch up on emails, etc.
  — Stewart Welch, AL.com, 1 Nov. 2017
• No sitting around twiddling thumbs, waiting on God-knows-what.
  — Breanna Edwards, The Root, 16 Aug. 2017
• Rather than sitting around twiddling your thumbs find ways to be more productive.
  — Jeraldine Saunders, The Mercury News, 23 Mar. 2017
• The perception among some people that DNR employees twiddle their thumbs all day isn’t the case.
  — Star Tribune, 29 Aug. 2020
• With all of those projects — and raising four children, with a fifth on the way — the Gaineses aren't exactly sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
  — Candace Braun Davison, House Beautiful, 25 Apr. 2018
• But at least some of them aren’t doing the genetic equivalent of twiddling their thumbs.
  — Quanta Magazine, 18 Aug. 2015
• For the second year in a row, Allen and other Chignik fishermen have mostly been left to twiddle their thumbs.
  — Alex Hager, Anchorage Daily News, 3 Aug. 2019
• Players began twiddling the tips of their fingers in Yates’s direction, as if trying to cast a jinx.
  — Seth Berkman, New York Times, 28 June 2016
• This death sets in play a baby-swapping plot hatched by the Brigadier, Kitty and Venetia’s mustache-twiddling father, who needs a male heir.
  — Mary Pols, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2017
• Going on (is better than) sitting there twiddling your thumbs.
  — Allison Stewart, chicagotribune.com, 26 July 2017
• Right about now, college sports fans are twiddling their thumbs and waiting anxiously for the start of football season just over 60 days away.
  — Rana Cash, The Courier-Journal, 26 June 2019
• Trying to gather virtual friends in the game and have Nintendo-like fun felt largely like twiddling thumbs in a jail cell.
  — Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 25 Jan. 2018
• But the scouts might spend some thumb-twiddling afternoons, as pitchers avoid throwing baseballs anywhere near Lewis.
  — Mark Whicker, Orange County Register, 5 Feb. 2017
• On a humid, rainy afternoon, Susan had demonstrated how to dig a hole for my tomato plant and twiddle it with my fingers so that the roots would crumble.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 24 July 2021
• Three conditioning treatments x three-minute soak each = nine minutes of twiddling your thumbs under the hot water.
  — Carina Hsieh, Cosmopolitan, 6 Mar. 2015
• While athletes all over the world are twiddling their thumbs, she's been rushed off her feet trying to help them get through a period of relentless uncertainty.
  — Don Riddell, CNN, 22 Apr. 2020
• Rocklin residents eager to enjoy the attractions promised by Quarry Park Adventures will have to twiddle their thumbs a bit longer – again.
  — Kellen Browning, sacbee, 14 June 2018

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024