"do-nothing" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Essentially deverbal in nature, albeit not from a unitary phrasal verb; from the phrase do nothing, which English expresses as a clausal phrase.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "adjective",
        "head": "do-nothing"
      },
      "expansion": "do-nothing",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "59 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "57 43",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English exocentric verb-noun compounds",
          "parents": [
            "Exocentric verb-noun compounds",
            "Verb-noun compounds",
            "Exocentric compounds",
            "Verb-object compounds",
            "Compound terms",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [
            "Links with manual fragments",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "58 42",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with redundant alt parameters",
          "parents": [
            "Links with redundant alt parameters",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "57 43",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "63 37",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020 April 22, “Letters: Open Access: Castlefield conundrum”, in Rail, page 31:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "doing nothing, not taking any action."
      ],
      "id": "en-do-nothing-en-adj-60Yxj1mK",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(attributive) doing nothing, not taking any action."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "attributive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "do-nothing"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Essentially deverbal in nature, albeit not from a unitary phrasal verb; from the phrase do nothing, which English expresses as a clausal phrase.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "do-nothings",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "do-nothing (plural do-nothings)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "do-nothingism"
        },
        {
          "word": "do-nothingness"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A lazy person."
      ],
      "id": "en-do-nothing-en-noun-IG2OJ19-",
      "links": [
        [
          "lazy",
          "lazy"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "know-nothing"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "archaic"
          ],
          "word": "do-naught"
        },
        {
          "word": "faineant"
        },
        {
          "word": "slacker"
        },
        {
          "word": "idler"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "lazy person",
          "word": "laiskuri"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "lazy person",
          "word": "laiskamato"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "do-nothing"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English exocentric verb-noun compounds",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English links with redundant alt parameters",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Essentially deverbal in nature, albeit not from a unitary phrasal verb; from the phrase do nothing, which English expresses as a clausal phrase.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "adjective",
        "head": "do-nothing"
      },
      "expansion": "do-nothing",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020 April 22, “Letters: Open Access: Castlefield conundrum”, in Rail, page 31:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "doing nothing, not taking any action."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(attributive) doing nothing, not taking any action."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "attributive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "do-nothing"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English exocentric verb-noun compounds",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English links with redundant alt parameters",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "do-nothingism"
    },
    {
      "word": "do-nothingness"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Essentially deverbal in nature, albeit not from a unitary phrasal verb; from the phrase do nothing, which English expresses as a clausal phrase.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "do-nothings",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "do-nothing (plural do-nothings)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "know-nothing"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A lazy person."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "lazy",
          "lazy"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "archaic"
          ],
          "word": "do-naught"
        },
        {
          "word": "faineant"
        },
        {
          "word": "slacker"
        },
        {
          "word": "idler"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "lazy person",
      "word": "laiskuri"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "lazy person",
      "word": "laiskamato"
    }
  ],
  "word": "do-nothing"
}