Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

do-nothing

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: 5.49 in modern English

Syllables: do-noth-ing
IPA

14

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Doing nothing, not taking any action.

noun

Example Sentences

"It became clear that a chronic do-nothing approach to the problem's management would no longer suffice."
"Manchester needs more railway capacity. Just how that is provided until the new platforms are built for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, I will leave for the experts, but a do-nothing approach is not going to be helpful and quite justifiably will create more arguments that the North is being ignored."

Etymology

Essentially deverbal in nature, albeit not from a unitary phrasal verb, but from the phrase do nothing, which English expresses as a verb phrase containing a complement.

Inflected Forms

do-nothings (plural)

Phrases

do-nothingism do-nothingness know-nothing

Frequently Paired Words

know-nothing

Synonyms

idler bum couch potato dawdler deadbeat dogfucker do-naught do-nothing dosser idleton faineant flaneur

Antonyms

doer agent dynamo gunner self-starter

Questions

What does do-nothing mean?: Doing nothing, not taking any action.
Where does do-nothing come from?: Essentially deverbal in nature, albeit not from a unitary phrasal verb, but from the phrase do nothing, which English expresses as a verb phrase containing a complement.

How to pronounce do-nothing

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