Word.ws English Dictionary

the devil makes work for idle hands

the devil makes work for idle hands proverb: synonym of idle hands are the devil's workshop.

Proverb (1)

the devil makes work for idle hands

  1. Synonym of idle hands are the devil's workshop.

Proverb (2) capitalized: the Devil makes work for idle hands

the Devil makes work for idle hands

  1. Synonym of idle hands are the devil's workshop.
    • ‘[…] We’re self-sufficient in food now too: sheep and cattle graze on the island, and we grow our own vegetables and corn at the agricultural station at Longridge, about a mile inland from here.’ / ‘And the convicts do all this?’ asked Fallon. / Price nodded. ‘It keeps them out of trouble. You know...2002, Jonathan Lunn, “The Isle of Mis’ry”, in Killigrew and the Incorrigibles, London: Headline, →ISBN, pages 87–88
    • “My brother, a mobster?” / “That’s right. Mike, we were wasting our time with that piece meal—one job every six months—line. You know what they say ‘the Devil makes work for idle hands.’[…]”2015, J.L. Vaughan, chapter 23, in No Good Son, Flybarrier Press, →ISBN, page 128

Synonyms of the devil makes work for idle hands

Questions about the devil makes work for idle hands

What does the devil makes work for idle hands mean?
The devil makes work for idle hands means synonym of idle hands are the devil's workshop.
What part of speech is the devil makes work for idle hands?
The devil makes work for idle hands is a proverb.

Words near the devil makes work for idle hands in the dictionary

  1. the devil finds work for idle hands
  2. the devil is a liar
  3. the devil is in the detail
  4. the devil is in the details
  5. the devil looks after his own
  6. the devil makes work for idle hands
  7. the devil take the hindmost
  8. the devil takes care of his own
  9. the devil that you know is better than the devil that you don't know
  10. the devil to pay and no pitch hot or ready
  11. the devil we know is better than the devil we don't

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the devil makes work for idle hands (page history and authors); the Devil makes work for idle hands (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:

Cite this entry: “the devil makes work for idle hands.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/the_devil_makes_work_for_idle_hands. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.