mope

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun someone who wastes time
  2. verb move around slowly and aimlessly
  3. verb be apathetic, gloomy, or dazed

Etymology

Late Middle English (as a noun meaning "simpleton, fool"), probably related to mop (“young of an animal, moppet”). Alternatively, of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish mopa (“to sulk”), Danish måbe, themselves borrowed from Low German mopen (“to make faces, gape”), of uncertain ultimate origin, but compare Proto-West Germanic *mauwu (“protruding lip, pout”). Compare also German muffen, French moue.

In classic literature

Synonyms

dallier, dillydallier, dilly-dallier, lounger

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