different between idle vs slacker

English

Etymology

From Middle English idel, ydel, from Old English ?del, from Proto-Germanic *?dalaz. Cognate with Dutch ijdel (“vain, meaningless”), German Low German iedel (“vain, idle”), German eitel (“vain, conceited”), and possibly Old Norse illr ("bad"; > English ill).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ??d(?)l, IPA^(key): /?a?d(?)l/
• Rhymes: -a?d?l
• Homophones: idol, idyll, idyl (US pronunciation)

Adjective

idle (comparative more idle, superlative most idle)

1. (obsolete) Empty, vacant.
2. Not being used appropriately; not occupied; (of time) with no, no important, or not much activity.
3. Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing in particular.
4. Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.

   • “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital, […]!”

5. Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.

6. (obsolete) Light-headed; foolish.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ford to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (of no importance): pointless
• See also Thesaurus:lazy

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

idle (third-person singular simple present idles, present participle idling, simple past and past participle idled)

1. (transitive) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume.
2. (intransitive) To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.

   to idle in an IRC channel

   • 1939, Joan Evans, Chateaubriand (page 32)

     He had already heard of the young man's projected journey — evidently the Comte de Combourg had written many letters while his son idled at St. Malo […]

3. (intransitive) Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.

Derived terms

• idler

Related terms

• (sense 3) idling speed

Translations

Noun

idle (plural idles)

1. The state of idling, of being idle.
2. (gaming) An idle animation.
3. (gaming) An idle game.

   Synonyms: idle game, incremental game

References

• idle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• idle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• idle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Diel, deli, diel, eild, lied

English

Etymology

From slack +? -er; compare especially slack off.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?slæk?/
• Rhymes: -æk?(r)

Noun

slacker (plural slackers)

1. One who procrastinates or is lazy.
2. A person lacking a sense of direction in life; an underachiever.
3. A person who seeks to avoid military service.
   • 1918 September 10, New York Times, "Take Slackers into Army",

     [S]everal hundred prisoners captured in North Jersey slacker raids last week and sent to this camp are being Inducted into military service today...

   • 1943 September 29, New York Times, "Wheeler assails Bureau 'Slackers'",

     Senator Burton K. Wheeler opened his fight in the Senate today..., raising the cry of "slackers" against deferred workers in Government establishments and industry.

4. (rare) A user of the Slackware Linux operating system.
   • 1996 August 15, stephen benson, "Re: How broken is Infomagic's Redhat linux?", comp.os.linux.setup, Usenet,

     I'm a slacker from way back btw

   • 2002 January 15, Josh, "Re: slackware installation issue", comp.os.linux, Usenet,

     Hope you become a happy slacker.

   • 2007 May 16, Dan C, "Re: Distro Poll, what do you use?", alt.os.linux, Usenet,

     Any real Slacker would know better than to top-post, AND post a bunch of HTML-crap to boot. You're not worthy.

5. A member of a certain 1990s subculture associated with Generation X.

Translations

Anagrams

• Clarkes, calkers, lackers, rackles, recalks