(superl.) Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren.
(superl.) Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours.
(superl.) Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen.
(superl.) Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow.
(superl.) Light-headed; foolish.
(v. i.) To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.
(v. t.) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; -- often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.
Example Sentences:
(1) Even with hepatic lipase, phospholipid hydrolysis could not deplete VLDL and IDL of sufficient phospholipid molecules to account for the loss of surface phospholipid that accompanies triacylglycerol hydrolysis and decreasing core volume as LDL is formed (or for conversion of HDL2 to HDL3).
(2) Eager to show I was a good student, the next time we had sex, I noticed that one of my hands was, indeed, lying idle – and started to pat him on the back, absently, as if trying to wind a baby.
(3) And imagine he then found that, far from acting swiftly to capture, arrest and charge him, the Metropolitan police force (who knew something about his activities) initially stood idly by as his list of victims grew and grew.
(4) The balance is fragile and the threat of a spiral of decline is not an idle one.
(5) The KBS hypothesis of autism is not simply an idle exercise.
(6) "There are idle MPs with no outside interests and there are fantastic public servants that do have them."
(7) On Saturday an idle digg ing machine signalled the hasty clearing of the building site to make way for the refugees, who have fled from countries including Syria and Eritrea .
(8) In circumstances in which energy conversion rate and supplies of reducing power exceed the capacity of the biosynthetic machinery, energy-dependent H2 production presumably represents a regulatory device that facilitates "energy-idling."
(9) Relative to EM, Meritec had the highest specificity (97%), followed by Virogen (95%), IDL (91%), Pathfinder (85%), Behring (81%), Bartels (72%), and Rotazyme (71%).
(10) Thus, introducing fish oil into an atherogenic diet reduced the number of VLDL, IDL and LDL particles in plasma by as much as 50%, reduced the cholesteryl ester content of the circulating lipoprotein, and reduced the ability of the VLDL to stimulate cholesterol esterification in macrophages.
(11) 12.44am BST Ah, here's @NotCoachTito, sitting somewhere idly wondering what it's like in Fenway tonight...actually, he may have a decent idea of the atmosphere.
(12) It was on the set of The Frost Report that production staff began to refer to Barker and Corbett as "the two Ronnies", while the writing team included Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, and Eric Idle – every Monty Python member bar Terry Gilliam – as well as Marty Feldman and lead writer Antony Jay, who went on to create Yes, Minister.
(13) Moreover, a larger fraction of plasma VLDL is transformed into IDL and LDL, the latter representing the main plasma cholesterol carrier.
(14) Hagere Selam remains a modest place of mudwalled shops with corrugated roofs, cows, donkeys and sheep wandering unpaved streets and children idling away an afternoon at table football – a generation with no memory of the famine that killed hundreds of thousands and woke up the world.
(15) Epidemiological studies in humans suggest that IDL or remnant lipoproteins are predictors of the severity or progression of atherosclerosis.
(16) It would be idle to pretend that Cameron doesn't have talents as a leader.
(17) A chlorine sanitizer was circulated (5 min, 40 degrees C) and the unit containing sanitizing solution left idle overnight.
(18) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Either way, I love Jane for idly sticking two fingers up at the idea of a spa break in Rhodes or other emblems of “sophistication” being the only thing to aspire to.
(19) Bidders have spent an estimated £1m each on their bids but, according to one industry source, the process has stalled and franchise owners are being forced to retain expensive but idle bidding teams.
(20) The results indicate that a simple depletion of his-tRNA is not sufficient to elicit the response and suggest that idle ribosomes are required for regulation.
Trifling
Definition:
(p. pr. & vb. n.) of Trifle
(a.) Being of small value or importance; trivial; paltry; as, a trifling debt; a trifling affair.
Example Sentences:
(1) After a relatively trifling lead exposure they developed the signs of acute lead intoxication.
(2) It featured Adam Dalgliesh, the poet-policeman, and he seemed old-fashioned, too, intellectual and a trifle upper-class.
(3) So Inter sold him to Real Madrid at the end of the 1995-96 season for the trifling sum of £3.5million - less than they had paid for him.
(4) 1.15pm: Dave Espley is not a man to be trifled with: "I'd agree with Steven Gardner regarding the use of video technology for goalline reviews, but I'd go slightly further with regard to the retrospective punishment for cheating.
(5) Clementine and dark chocolate trifle (above) This recipe gives classic trifle a zingy twist with clementines and orange blossom; a great make-ahead dinner party dessert.
(6) Of course it is the hyperbolic silliness – the make-or-break trifle sponge, custard thefts, and prolonged ruminations over "The Crumb" – that makes The Great British Bake Off so lovable.
(7) English friends had explained to me, not without pride, the importance of grumbling to the national character, but I still want to stress to every Londoner I meet that — take it from a visiting Los Angeleno — the tube exists, and that counts as no trifling achievement.
(8) But it is a trifle dispiriting even so to hear the education secretary parroting the same lines as his predecessors – even more so for teachers, I guess.
(9) This March, the proportions of loans taken by finance and property slumped all the way to a trifling 74.7%, while non-financial firms took a whopping 25.3%.
(10) It wasn't a baked Alaska, a fruit tart, a cream-laden trifle or a steamed treacle sponge.
(11) If you wish to have only a trifling risk group of 10% of all pregnant women, you can predict right only about 50% of all infants with low birth weight.
(12) Bake Off validates the small quiet dramas of the trifling everyday.
(13) As in most mutinous them-and-us industrial confrontations it had been simmering for years and then boiled over for what seemed the most trifling of reasons.
(14) "And he is at a loss whether to pity a people who take such arrant trifles in good earnest or to envy that happiness which enables a community to discuss them."
(15) I try to answer these letters, but compared to the stories I'm hearing, my experience has been trifling - as more than one correspondent has pointed out.
(16) With the menswear shows in the capital now on their sixth season, such trifles have their place even in the mainstream world of an Arcadia-owned brand.
(17) Some jokey conspiracy theories did the rounds and one YouTube user criticised Hadfield's interpretation of the song as being overly literal (arguably correct, but a trifle harsh, considering).
(18) Clegg was the deputy prime minister and would not jeopardise his relationship with the Conservative party over such a trifle.
(19) And what would become of my mornings in my little corner and my late nights scanning the TV channels, watching my crime shows, not a trifling thing?
(20) But it’s no trifle — especially given the governor’s national ambitions.