"fiddle around" meaning in All languages combined

See fiddle around on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: fiddles around [present, singular, third-person], fiddling around [participle, present], fiddled around [participle, past], fiddled around [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} fiddle around (third-person singular simple present fiddles around, present participle fiddling around, simple past and past participle fiddled around)
  1. (intransitive, or transitive with "with") To toy or play (with something) in an idle, aimless or unstructured way; to mess around (with); to muck around (with). Tags: intransitive, transitive
    Sense id: en-fiddle_around-en-verb-dc9k2hhp Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs formed with "around", Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 65 35 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs formed with "around": 67 33 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 66 34 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 68 32
  2. (intransitive, or transitive with "with") To tinker (with): to make small adjustments or improvements (to something), especially in an experimental or unskilled manner. Tags: intransitive, transitive
    Sense id: en-fiddle_around-en-verb-516wJBhe

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fiddles around",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fiddling around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fiddled around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fiddled around",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "fiddle around (third-person singular simple present fiddles around, present participle fiddling around, simple past and past participle fiddled around)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "65 35",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "67 33",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"around\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "66 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "68 32",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't fiddle around with those cables or you'll electrocute yourself.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To toy or play (with something) in an idle, aimless or unstructured way; to mess around (with); to muck around (with)."
      ],
      "id": "en-fiddle_around-en-verb-dc9k2hhp",
      "links": [
        [
          "toy",
          "toy"
        ],
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "idle",
          "idle"
        ],
        [
          "aimless",
          "aimless"
        ],
        [
          "unstructured",
          "unstructured"
        ],
        [
          "mess around",
          "mess around"
        ],
        [
          "muck around",
          "muck around"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, or transitive with \"with\") To toy or play (with something) in an idle, aimless or unstructured way; to mess around (with); to muck around (with)."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with \"with\""
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I've been fiddling around all morning, trying to get this old lawnmower to work.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To tinker (with): to make small adjustments or improvements (to something), especially in an experimental or unskilled manner."
      ],
      "id": "en-fiddle_around-en-verb-516wJBhe",
      "links": [
        [
          "tinker",
          "tinker"
        ],
        [
          "adjustments",
          "adjustments"
        ],
        [
          "improvements",
          "improvements"
        ],
        [
          "experimental",
          "experimental"
        ],
        [
          "unskilled",
          "unskilled"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, or transitive with \"with\") To tinker (with): to make small adjustments or improvements (to something), especially in an experimental or unskilled manner."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with \"with\""
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fiddle around"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs formed with \"around\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fiddles around",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fiddling around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fiddled around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fiddled around",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "fiddle around (third-person singular simple present fiddles around, present participle fiddling around, simple past and past participle fiddled around)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't fiddle around with those cables or you'll electrocute yourself.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To toy or play (with something) in an idle, aimless or unstructured way; to mess around (with); to muck around (with)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "toy",
          "toy"
        ],
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "idle",
          "idle"
        ],
        [
          "aimless",
          "aimless"
        ],
        [
          "unstructured",
          "unstructured"
        ],
        [
          "mess around",
          "mess around"
        ],
        [
          "muck around",
          "muck around"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, or transitive with \"with\") To toy or play (with something) in an idle, aimless or unstructured way; to mess around (with); to muck around (with)."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with \"with\""
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I've been fiddling around all morning, trying to get this old lawnmower to work.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To tinker (with): to make small adjustments or improvements (to something), especially in an experimental or unskilled manner."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tinker",
          "tinker"
        ],
        [
          "adjustments",
          "adjustments"
        ],
        [
          "improvements",
          "improvements"
        ],
        [
          "experimental",
          "experimental"
        ],
        [
          "unskilled",
          "unskilled"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, or transitive with \"with\") To tinker (with): to make small adjustments or improvements (to something), especially in an experimental or unskilled manner."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with \"with\""
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fiddle around"
}

Download raw JSONL data for fiddle around meaning in All languages combined (2.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-02 using wiktextract (ca09fec and c40eb85). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.