We all know someone who seems to avoid work and prefers taking it easy all the time. Whether you want to describe a lazy friend or talk about someone who does nothing useful, English has plenty of colorful idioms and phrases for lazy person and useless individuals. In this blog, you will find over 20 common phrases and idioms about laziness, with easy Hindi meanings and examples to help you understand and use them well. These lazy idioms and phrases will help you describe someone who is unproductive or simply lazy in a fun and natural way.
20+ Idioms and Phrases About Someone Lazy and Useless with Hindi Meanings
Knowing the right words is helpful when talking about laziness or useless behavior. This list of phrases and idioms for useless person and phrases for lazy person is perfect for everyday situations. Whether you’re chatting with friends or writing a story, these idioms and phrases about laziness will add flavor and express exactly what you want to say in English.
1. Good-for-nothing
English Meaning: A person who never does anything useful or responsible.
Hindi Meaning: निकम्मा या बेकार इंसान, जो किसी काम का नहीं होता।
Example: Everyone in the family is tired of him, he’s such a good-for-nothing who just sits around all day.
परिवार में सब उससे परेशान हैं, वो पूरा दिन बैठा रहता है, बिल्कुल निकम्मा आदमी है।
2. Dead loss
English Meaning: Someone or something that brings no benefit or result, totally useless.
Hindi Meaning: पूरी तरह बेकार या नाकामयाब व्यक्ति/चीज़।
Example: We tried teaching him basic cooking, but he’s a dead loss in the kitchen.
हमने उसे खाना बनाना सिखाने की कोशिश की, पर वह रसोई में पूरी तरह बेकार है।
3. Useless as an ashtray on a motorbike
English Meaning: Something or someone completely pointless or unnecessary.
Hindi Meaning: बिल्कुल बेकार चीज़।
Example: Asking him to help with anything is useless as an ashtray on a motorbike, he never moves.
उससे किसी काम में मदद माँगना बेकार है, वो किसी काम नहीं आता है।
4. Worthless as a chocolate teapot
English Meaning: Completely useless, because it cannot do the job it’s meant for.
Hindi Meaning: इतना बेकार कि उसका कोई इस्तेमाल ही नहीं है।
Example: That plan is worthless as a chocolate teapot, it will melt the moment problems arise.
वह plan एकदम बेकार है, मुसीबत आते ही पिघल जाएगा।
5. Waste of space
English Meaning: Someone who takes up space but contributes nothing.
Hindi Meaning: ऐसा व्यक्ति जो मौजूद तो है, पर किसी काम का नहीं।
Example: He never works, never helps, just complains, he’s a total waste of space.
वह न काम करता है, न मदद करता है, बस शिकायत करता है, बिलकुल बेकार इंसान है।
6. No good
English Meaning: Not helpful or reliable.
Hindi Meaning: जो मददगार न हो या और न ही भरोसे लायक।
Example: Everyone warned me he was no good, but I didn’t believe them until now.
सबने मुझे बताया था कि वह ठीक आदमी नहीं है, पर अब जाकर समझ आया।
7. Outlive your usefulness
English Meaning: When someone or something once helpful is no longer needed.
Hindi Meaning: जब किसी का काम खत्म हो जाए या अब उसकी ज़रूरत न रहे।
Example: After the new manager joined, the old system outlived its usefulness.
नए manager के आने के बाद पुराना system अब किसी काम का नहीं रहा।
8. As much use as a chocolate fireguard
English Meaning: Describes something or someone completely useless.
Hindi Meaning: किसी काम का नहीं, खासकर जब ज़रूरत हो तब।
Example: He tried to fix the leak, but he’s as much use as a chocolate fireguard.
उसने leakage ठीक करने की कोशिश की पर वो किसी काम का नहीं था।
9. Like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic
English Meaning: Doing something pointless or useless when a much bigger problem exists.
Hindi Meaning: बड़ी मुश्किल सामने होते हुए भी छोटी बेकार चीज़ों पर ध्यान देना।
Example: Worrying about hiring when the company is closing is like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
जब कंपनी बंद हो रही हो तो hiring की चिंता करना बिलकुल बेकार है।
10. Not worth a damn
English Meaning: Of no value at all; completely useless.
Hindi Meaning: जिसकी कोई कीमत या ज़रूरत ही नहीं।
Example: The new phone I bought stopped working in two days, it’s not worth a damn.
जो नया फोन खरीदा था, वो दो दिन में खराब हो गया, बिलकुल बेकार निकला।
11. Bone idle
English Meaning: Extremely lazy; someone who avoids all kinds of effort.
Hindi Meaning: बहुत ज़्यादा आलसी व्यक्ति।
Example: He’s so bone idle that even making a cup of tea feels like hard work to him.
वह इतना आलसी है कि चाय बनाना भी उसे मेहनत लगता है।
12. Lazybones
English Meaning: A playful term for someone who’s lazy or slow to act.
Hindi Meaning: मज़ाक में किसी को आलसी कहना।
Example: Come on, lazybones, get off the bed, it’s already noon.
चलो आलसी, अब बिस्तर से उठो, दोपहर हो गई है।
13. Couch potato
English Meaning: A person who spends most of their time sitting or lying down watching TV and doing nothing active.
Hindi Meaning: ऐसा व्यक्ति जो पूरा दिन बैठे-बैठे टीवी देखता रहे और कुछ काम न करे।
Example: My brother has become such a couch potato ever since he got that new gaming console.
मेरे भाई ने नया gaming console लिया है, तब से वो पूरा दिन आलस में टीवी के सामने बैठा रहता है।
14. Freeloader
English Meaning: A person who enjoys things at others’ expense without giving anything back.
Hindi Meaning: वो व्यक्ति जो दूसरों के पैसे या चीज़ों का इस्तेमाल करता है, पर खुद कुछ योगदान नहीं देता।
Example: Everyone at the office brings snacks, but he never does, he’s a real freeloader.
ऑफिस में सब लोग कुछ न कुछ लेकर आते हैं, पर वो कुछ नहीं लाता, बस दूसरों का खा लेता है, सचमुच मुफ़्तख़ोर है।
15. Slacker
English Meaning: Someone who avoids work, delays things, or does the bare minimum.
Hindi Meaning: काम से बचने वाला या बहुत आलसी व्यक्ति जो ज़रूरत से ज़्यादा मेहनत नहीं करता।
Example: The teacher called him a slacker because he never finishes his homework on time.
टीचर ने उसे आलसी कहा क्योंकि वो कभी भी अपना homework समय पर पूरा नहीं करता।
16. Layabout
English Meaning: A lazy person who spends time doing nothing.
Hindi Meaning: ऐसा इंसान जो सारा दिन निकम्मेपन में बिताता है और कोई काम नहीं करता।
Example: His parents are tired of their son being a layabout who just scrolls on his phone all day.
उसके माता-पिता तंग आ गए हैं कि उनका बेटा पूरा दिन फोन चलाता रहता है, कोई काम नहीं करता।
17. Bum around
English Meaning: To spend your time aimlessly without doing anything productive.
Hindi Meaning: बिना किसी मकसद के समय बर्बाद करना या आवारा घूमना।
Example: After college, he just bummed around for a year without finding a job.
कॉलेज के बाद उसने एक साल काम ढूँढ़ने की जगह बस आवारा घूमते हुए निकाल दिया।
18. Duvet day
English Meaning: A day when you stay in bed, do nothing, and relax instead of working.
Hindi Meaning: आराम का दिन जब कोई काम न करके बस बिस्तर में पड़े रहना।
Example: After a hectic week, I’m taking a duvet day tomorrow to do absolutely nothing.
पूरे हफ्ते की भागदौड़ के बाद मैं कल बस बिस्तर पर पड़े रहकर आराम करूंगा।
19. Lie down on the job
English Meaning: To avoid doing your duty or to be careless when you should be working.
Hindi Meaning: काम के वक्त ज़िम्मेदारी न निभाना या लापरवाही करना।
Example: The boss scolded him for lying down on the job during such an important project.
बॉस ने उसे डाँटा क्योंकि वह इतने ज़रूरी प्रोजेक्ट में भी ढिलाई कर रहा था।
20. Slack off
English Meaning: To reduce effort or stop working seriously.
Hindi Meaning: काम ढिलाई करना या मेहनत करना बंद कर देना।
Example: Many students start to slack off once exams are over.
बहुत से छात्र परीक्षा खत्म होते ही मेहनत करना छोड़ देते हैं।
21. Take it easy
English Meaning: To relax and not take stress or responsibility seriously.
Hindi Meaning: आराम से रहना, ज़्यादा मेहनत या टेंशन न लेना।
Example: On Sundays, I just take it easy and watch some movies.
रविवार को मैं बस आराम से फिल्में देखकर दिन बिताता हूँ।
22. Not lift a finger
English Meaning: To refuse to help or do any work at all.
Hindi Meaning: कोई मेहनत न करना या मदद करने की कोशिश भी न करना।
Example: He didn’t even lift a finger to help when the kitchen was a mess.
जब रसोई गंदी पड़ी थी, तब उसने मदद करने की ज़रा सी कोशिश भी नहीं की।
23. Goof off
English Meaning: To waste time doing silly or unimportant things instead of working.
Hindi Meaning: काम के बजाय बेकार चीज़ों में समय बर्बाद करना।
Example: The employees were goofing off instead of preparing for the meeting.
Meeting की तैयारी करने के बजाय कर्मचारी मज़ाक मस्ती में time pass कर रहे थे।
24. Take the path of least resistance
English Meaning: To choose the easiest way instead of putting in hard effort.
Hindi Meaning: मेहनत के बजाय आसान रास्ता चुन लेना।
Example: He always takes the path of least resistance and avoids any tough task.
वो हमेशा आसान रास्ता पकड़ लेता है ताकि कठिन काम से बच सके।
25. Don’t lift a finger
English Meaning: To make no effort at all to help or do something.
Hindi Meaning: बिल्कुल कोई कोशिश न करना या किसी काम में मदद न करना।
Example: He never lifts a finger to help at home, even when everyone is busy cleaning.
घर में कोई भी काम हो, वो एक उंगली तक नहीं उठाता, जबकि सब सफाई में लगे रहते हैं।
26. Sit on your hands
English Meaning: To do nothing when you are supposed to take action.
Hindi Meaning: हाथ पर हाथ रखे बैठे रहना।
Example: The government just sat on its hands instead of solving the electricity issue.
सरकार ने बिजली की समस्या हल करने की बजाय बस हाथ पर हाथ रखकर बैठी रही।
27. Drag your heels
English Meaning: To delay or be slow in doing something because you don’t want to do it.
Hindi Meaning: किसी काम को जान-बूझकर धीरे करना या टालना क्योंकि मन नहीं है।
Example: He’s been dragging his heels about applying for jobs, I think he just doesn’t want to work.
वो नौकरी के लिए अप्लाई करने में जान-बूझकर देरी कर रहा है, लगता है उसे काम ही नहीं करना।
Fill in the Blanks Exercise
Fill in each blank with the correct idiom or phrase from the list given above:
- When you expect him to help, he won’t even ________, he just avoids every task.
- That employee is a total ________, he never finishes any work assigned to him.
- Asking him to do useful work is like being ________, he’s completely ineffective.
- She spent the entire weekend as a ________, watching TV and doing nothing else.
- The project is failing because people keep ________ and delaying their duties.
- He shouldn’t always try to ________; sometimes, you have to face challenges directly.
- He was ________ about completing his tasks, causing delays for everyone else.
- This old tool has ________; it’s no longer reliable or useful.
- He is so ________ that even cleaning his room feels like a huge effort.
- You’re just ________ when you avoid work and waste time on silly things.
- Instead of fixing the problem, the manager tries to ________ to others.
- She likes to ________ at home and do as little work as possible all day.
- After two months without work, he started to ________ and roam around without purpose.
- My cousin called in a ________ to rest after working hard all week.
- The government just ________, not taking any action when people expected them to help.
Answers
- don’t lift a finger
- deadbeat
- as much use as a chocolate fireguard
- couch potato
- dragging their heels
- take the path of least resistance
- slacking off
- outlived its usefulness
- bone idle
- goofing off
- pass the buck
- sit on your hands
- bummed around
- duvet day
- sat on their hands
Conclusion
Expressing laziness or uselessness is easy once you learn these idioms and phrases. They won’t just expand your vocabulary, but also make your English sound more natural and lively. So remember this handy list of phrases and idioms about laziness, and next time you want to talk about someone lazy or describe useless behavior, you’ll have the perfect words ready. Using lazy idioms and phrases is a great way to communicate clearly and with a little fun. If you want to work more on your spoken English skills, then you can consider joining a spoken English course online.
