futz around

verb

To waste time frivolously or busy oneself with minor tasks; to experiment or tinker.

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Meanings

verbfutz around (third-person singular simple present futzes around, present participle futzing around, simple past and past participle futzed around)

present singular third person futzes around · participle present futzing around · participle past futzed around · past futzed around

  1. Northern USslangTo waste time frivolously or busy oneself with minor tasks; to experiment or tinker.
  2. Northern USslangTo mess or interfere with.

    I am nobody to futz around with when I know myself to be four hundred per cent in the right.

    1969, Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint
Cite this entry
APA

futz around. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/futz%20around

MLA

“futz around.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/futz%20around. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “futz around,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/futz%20around.

Source: futz around on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.