do-nothing

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do-nothing

Where it comes 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.

adjective

attributive Doing nothing, not taking any action. It became clear that a chronic do-nothing approach to the problem's management would no longer suffice.

noun do-nothings

A lazy person.
Similar: idler, bum, couch potato, dawdler, deadbeat, dogfucker, do-naught, do-nothing, dosser, idleton, faineant, flaneur · Opposite: doer, agent, dynamo, gunner, self-starter

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MLA

"do-nothing." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/do-nothing. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

do-nothing. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/do-nothing

Chicago

"do-nothing." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/do-nothing.

BibTeX

@misc{do_nothing_2026,
  title = {do-nothing},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/do-nothing},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}