as in to delay
to move or act slowly
since they were charging by the hour, the house painters lingered in finishing up their work
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of linger
Public schools also continue to confront declining enrollment, lingering early literacy gaps, and the difficulty of rebuilding academic momentum as districts adapt to modern pressures intensified by the pandemic.
—
State House News Service, Boston Herald, 10 Feb. 2026
By Tuesday morning, the water appeared to be cleaned up and there were no lingering impacts on train travel.
—Tom Ignudo, CBS News, 10 Feb. 2026
Deodorize The Trash Smelly trash may be behind lingering odors that waft throughout the house.
—Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 10 Feb. 2026
The lawmakers said part of the problem with lingering redactions was that FBI or grand jury documents arrived with redactions at the department.
—Bart Jansen, USA Today, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for linger
State House News Service, Boston Herald, 10 Feb. 2026
By Tuesday morning, the water appeared to be cleaned up and there were no lingering impacts on train travel.
—Tom Ignudo, CBS News, 10 Feb. 2026
Deodorize The Trash Smelly trash may be behind lingering odors that waft throughout the house.
—Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 10 Feb. 2026
The lawmakers said part of the problem with lingering redactions was that FBI or grand jury documents arrived with redactions at the department.
—Bart Jansen, USA Today, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for linger
Recent Examples of Synonyms for linger
Verb
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Silver firmly stated that the investigation and its findings were not purposely delayed while the Clippers host this All-Star weekend.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
15 Feb. 2026
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Officials from those agencies warned lawmakers that the lapse in funding will leave thousands of personnel working without pay, disrupt disaster reimbursements, delay cyber protections and more.—
Justin Gomez,
ABC News,
14 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Demanding papers, dragging away dissenters.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Slave catchers could capture them, kidnap them and drag them back South.—
Jesse Wright,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Maybe the girl had crawled under a neighbor's trailer while playing hide-and-seek.—
Kristine Phillips,
IndyStar,
5 Feb. 2026
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Well, there was a great deal left in me, in an agony of embarrassment looking around for that hole on the floor to crawl into.—
Natalia Sánchez Loayza,
Scientific American,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Kimmel wasn’t the only late-night host to poke fun at TPUSA’s counter-program, born out of MAGA’s outcry over Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl halftime show.—
Cheyenne Roundtree,
Rolling Stone,
10 Feb. 2026
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The Americans, meanwhile, stayed on their best, most humble behavior afterward, trying not to poke the wounded bear.—
Kevin Baxter,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Another, more immediate reason is that after 45 years of service, the Stinger is becoming obsolete and increasingly unsuited to a battlefield dominated by loitering munitions, cruise missiles, and drone warfare.—
David Szondy
February 08,
New Atlas,
8 Feb. 2026
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This puts it safely within the light cruise missile-grade of loitering munitions, suggesting it is probably intended for use against hardened or high-value targets.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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He was also photographed strolling the Strip with that same group after being booted from the venue, according to the Daily Beast.—
Brian Niemietz,
Mercury News,
6 Feb. 2026
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In addition to the Sonnenalp, all of the buildings in Vail Village were designed with European alpine architecture in mind, so walking around feels a bit like strolling through a wintry Bavarian fairytale.—
Sarah Kuta,
Condé Nast Traveler,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Linger.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/linger. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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