{
    "term": "idle",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "not working hard",
            "labels": "(disapproving)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "an idle student"
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "lazy",
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "become", "remain"],
                "adverb": ["bone"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "not in use",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "to **lie/stand/remain idle**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Half their machines are lying idle."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He did not let the factory become idle."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The pumps are standing idle."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The land was left idle for years."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "lie", "sit"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "without work",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Over ten per cent of the workforce is now idle."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He never stayed idle for long."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "unemployed"
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "with no particular purpose or effect",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "**idle chatter/curiosity**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "It was just an **idle threat** *(= not serious)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "**It is idle to** pretend that their marriage is a success."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "not spent doing work or something particular",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "In idle moments, he carved wooden figures."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "people who do not have enough to do often start to do wrong",
            "labels": "(saying)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "She blamed the crimes on the local jobless teenagers. ‘The devil makes work for idle hands,’ she would say."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈaɪdl/",
                "audio": "id/idle/idle__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈaɪdl/",
                "audio": "id/idle/idle__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Old English īdel ‘empty, useless’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch ijdel ‘vain, frivolous, useless’ and German eitel ‘bare, worthless’."
}