How to use loiter in a sentence

18 example sentences · verb, noun

Loiter means to stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly. Example: “For some reason, they discourage loitering outside the store, but encourage it inside.”

Examples of loiter by meaning

verbTo stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly.

For some reason, they discourage loitering outside the store, but encourage it inside.

verbTo remain at a certain place instead of moving on.

Using the transect method, the counter had to maintain a general progress along the transect and was not able to loiter at one spot for too long.2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual...

More sentences with loiter

The actors loitered at the door, fishing for compliments.From the entry fish
She said that the unidentified flying object then turned around, zoomed to a higher altitude, and loitered briefly before speeding off.From the entry unidentified flying object
She noted that the report stated the Kargu-2 and “other loitering munitions” attacked convoys and retreating fighters.2021 June 3, Maria Cramer, quoting Ulrike Franke, “A.I. Drone May Have Acted on Its Own in Attacking Fighters, U.N. Says”, in The New York…. From the entry loitering munition
There are many people loitering, eating ice cream, talking, eating brats.2020, Brandon Taylor, Real Life, Daunt Books Originals, page 267. From the entry brat
Unlike homing munitions, loitering munitions do not require precise intelligence on enemy targets before launch.2018, Paul Scharre, chapter 3, in Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN. From the entry loitering munition
Years ago, guys on Baltimore's streets would have, by definition, called an arrest for loitering a "humble."2005 April 23, Gregory Kane, “'Jive humble' arrests help fill Central Booking's cell”, in Baltimore Sun. From the entry humble
A few people were there, loitering away Sunday in their best clothes.1930, Norman Lindsay, chapter 1, in Every Mother’s Son [Redheap], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation…. From the entry drowse
Let your lingua loiter on its salty, hard surface.2009, Alex J. Packer, Wise Highs: How to Thrill, Chill, & Get Away from It All Without Alcohol Or Other Drugs, Read How You Want, →ISBN…. From the entry lingua
We've seen an increase in police harassment of T-rooms in response to the striking down of the loitering laws.1983 April 16, Ian Daniels, “It Is Us Against Them”, in Gay Community News, page 5. From the entry T-room
Pancras, there has clearly been no loitering on the way!1959 September, O. S. Nock, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, pages 626-627. From the entry loitering
Greenleaf was loitering in the woods and Mrs.1956, Flannery O'Connor, “Greenleaf”, in The Kenyon Review, volume 18, number 3, page 408. From the entry holeful
In my imagination I loiter at places where there is filth, mud, and decaying things, places where it stinks.1936, Magnus Hirschfeld, Sexual Anomalies and Perversions: Physical and Psychological Development and Treatment, page 431. From the entry mysophile
You're on a corner in my district, it ain't gonna be about no humble, it ain't gonna be about no loitering charge, nothing like that.2004 October 17, Ed Burns, “Straight and True”, in The Wire, season 3, episode 5 (television production), spoken by Howard "Bunny" Colvin…. From the entry humble
Order-maintenance proponents affirmatively promote youth curfews, anti-gang loitering ordinances, and order-maintenance crackdowns as milder alternatives to the theory of incapacitation and increased incarceration.2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, Illusion of Order. From the entry incapacitation
The prospect of two hundred (or more) loitering and carousing patrons streaming out of the club at 1 a.m. is profoundly disturbing to us.1986 February 15, John Cronin, “More To It Than Homophobia”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 31, page 5. From the entry carouse
Meanwhile the chauffeur who had driven them there—a subordinate member of the band—had garaged his car and was loitering about the drive in the expectation of further instructions.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London. From the entry garage

Meaning of loiter

verb To stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly.
verb To stroll about without any aim or purpose, to ramble, to wander.
verb To remain at a certain place instead of moving on.

Full definition of loiter

Questions about loiter in a sentence

How do you use loiter in a sentence?: Loiter is used as a verb and noun. For example: “For some reason, they discourage loitering outside the store, but encourage it inside.”
What is a short sentence with loiter?: “Greenleaf was loitering in the woods and Mrs.”
What does loiter mean?: Loiter means to stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly.

Adapted from Wiktionary: loiter (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use loiter in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/loiter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.