Word.ws English Dictionary

screw around

UK/skɹuː əˈɹaʊnd/

screw around verb: to make out or engage in sexual activity, usually without actually having sex.

Verb

screw around (third-person singular simple present screws around, present participle screwing around, simple past and past participle screwed around)

  1. (intransitive, slang) To make out or engage in sexual activity, usually without actually having sex.
    • Who do you have to screw around here to get a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit?2003, Richard Curtis, Love Actually, spoken by Prime Minister (Hugh Grant)
  2. (intransitive, slang) To waste time; to dawdle; to play or idle.
  3. (intransitive, slang) To have sex with multiple partners; to sleep around.
  4. (slang) To harass and annoy someone.

Forms of screw around

third-person singular presentscrews around
present participlescrewing around
past participlescrewed around
pastscrewed around

Questions about screw around

What does screw around mean?
Screw around means to make out or engage in sexual activity, usually without actually having sex.
What part of speech is screw around?
Screw around is a verb.
How do you pronounce screw around?
Screw around is pronounced /skɹuː əˈɹaʊnd/ (UK).
What is the past tense of screw around?
The past tense of screw around is screwed around.

Words near screw around in the dictionary

  1. screw
  2. screw about
  3. screw all
  4. screw anchor
  5. screw anchors
  6. screw around
  7. screw back
  8. screw bean
  9. screw beans
  10. screw bolt
  11. screw bolts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: screw around (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-screw around.ogg.

Cite this entry: “screw around.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/screw_around. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.