as in to spend
to use up carelessly
fiddled away the entire evening surfing the Internet
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of fiddle away
Her positive pablum came too late to stop critics from casting her as a modern-day Nero, the emperor who supposedly fiddled away as Rome burned.
—
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fiddle away
Verb
-
At thirty-three, Chalker was older than most of his classmates, with more experience professionally and abroad, and he was tapped to spend a day with James Pavitt, then the agency’s director of operations.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
-
After Brooklyn spent two quarters playing mostly clean, the third quarter got loose.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
One such affair claimed an extra life when the executioner’s son ascended the scaffold to brandish a head, lost his footing, and fell to his death.—
Lauren Collins,
New Yorker,
1 Apr. 2026
-
The Rockets are a team that lost its starting point guard (Fred VanVleet) at the start of the year while the Knicks brought back and built upon the exact same core that punched the franchise’s first ticket to the conference finals in the last quarter-century.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
How a situation is handled can depend on what’s thrown away and how much is involved.—
Tiffani Jackson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Make sure to remove or black out any labels with your personal information before throwing away the packaging.—
Cody Godwin,
USA Today,
24 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Ultra Music Festival runs through the weekend at Bayfront Park, with road closures and traffic expected throughout downtown Miami.—
Abby Dodge,
CBS News,
28 Mar. 2026
-
In addition to the fueling tests, NASA will need to perform a series of SLS and Orion spacecraft checks, as well a run through with Artemis 2 astronaut crew.—
Josh Dinner,
Space.com,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fiddle away.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiddle%20away. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
