fart about
phrasal verb.phrasal verb. to waste time doing silly or unimportant things instead of being productive.
phrasal verb. to behave in a frivolous or aimless manner; to waste time on trivialities. Primarily British English, informal, and potentially offensive to some listeners.
Stop farting about and finish your homework.
We spent the whole afternoon farting about in the garage instead of actually fixing the car.
While the rest of the department worked toward the deadline, he was content to fart about with minor formatting issues that had no impact on the final report.
- mess around
- fool around
- waste time
- dilly-dally
- get down to business
- focus
- hurry up
- Particles
- about
- Separability
- inseparable
- Pattern
- fart + about
highly informal and considered mildly vulgar; avoid in professional or polite settings.
advise students that this is a British colloquialism; the American equivalent is often 'mess around' or 'fool around'.
He is farting about his work.He is farting about.this phrasal verb is usually intransitive; you do not 'fart about' a specific task, you just 'fart about' generally.
Last updated April 24, 2026