Phrasal verb
faff about
Definition
phrasal verb. to spend time doing things that are not important or to take a long time to do something simple.
phrasal verb. to engage in unproductive, disorganized, or trivial activity; often implies a lack of focus or unnecessary delay in completing a task.
Examples
“Stop faffing about and put your shoes on.”
“We spent the whole morning faffing about with the printer instead of finishing the report.”
“While the committee faffed about with minor administrative details, the actual deadline for the project passed unnoticed.”
Examples
simple
“Stop faffing about and put your shoes on.”
contextual
“We spent the whole morning faffing about with the printer instead of finishing the report.”
complex
“While the committee faffed about with minor administrative details, the actual deadline for the project passed unnoticed.”
Usage
usually used when the speaker is frustrated by someone's lack of efficiency.
Teaching tip
this is a quintessentially British expression; use it to teach students how to express mild annoyance at procrastination or disorganization.
Pitfall
He was faffing about the room.
He was faffing about.
when used to mean wasting time, 'about' is a particle, not a preposition requiring a physical location.
Phrasal verb
Particles
about
Separability
inseparable
Pattern
faff + about