do nothing

verb

To not take any action; to fail to do or accomplish something.

“"That colour does nothing for you" "Argh! And you do nothing but complain bout everything!"”

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Meanings

verbdo nothing (third-person singular simple present does nothing, present participle doing nothing, simple past did nothing, past participle done nothing)

present singular third person does nothing · participle present doing nothing · past did nothing · participle past done nothing

  1. To not take any action; to fail to do or accomplish something.

    "That colour does nothing for you" "Argh! And you do nothing but complain bout everything!"

    2 more examples

    The new zero tolerance rules did nothing to make the school safer and improve its atmosphere; in fact, these rules may have made the school less safe and less desirable instead.

    But doing nothing is not an option. Our railway has been drifting, leaderless, for a couple of years. Sunak should also ponder as he panders.

    2023 May 31, Nigel Harris, “GBR now! We have no Plan B”, in RAIL, number 984, page 3
Cite this entry
APA

do nothing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20nothing

MLA

“do nothing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20nothing. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “do nothing,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20nothing.

Source: do nothing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.