Stars and Stripes: The Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer

Summer is a season for fun activities, but set aside some time for just chilling, maybe with a book, indoors or out. This list will give you all the words you need to master the art of doing nothing.
15 words 14878 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. alfresco
    in the open air
    Affordable, fun and serving incredibly tasty barbecue, it’s no wonder that this formerly seasonal outdoor barbecue restaurant is now a 13,000-square-foot permanent fixture with indoor and alfresco seating. New York Times
    Alfresco is Italian for "in the fresh air." Instead of saying "we're eating outside," you can say "we're dining alfresco this evening." It makes it sound much fancier.
  2. bask
    expose oneself to warmth and light, as for relaxation
    In a small clearing, we pause and drop back our heads to bask in the sunlight. Mockingjay
    Bask comes from the same Old Norse root, baða, as bathe. So basking in the sun is literally sunbathing.
  3. doze
    sleep lightly or for a short period of time
    They gaze enviously at villagers cooling themselves in streams and washing off after a day of fieldwork and at others who doze in hammocks slung in shady spots near adobe and cinder-block homes. Enrique's Journey
  4. hammock
    a hanging bed of canvas or rope netting
    The barracks had shady porches, where campers lounged in hammocks or played cards and drank sodas. The Son of Neptune
    A Carib Indian word, via the Spanish hamaca, a hammock might be the most sophisticated piece of relaxation technology ever devised.
  5. idle
    not in action or at work
    In the weeks I’m idle I can do anything I like, get up in the morning, stay in bed, take long walks out the country like my father, wander around Limerick. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
  6. indolent
    disinclined to work or exertion
    She is especially eloquent in defending her beloved sloth, which she calls “one of the world's most misunderstood creatures,” unfairly maligned as indolent and lazy when it actually efficiently makes use of its available resources. Scientific American
    Indolent is a fancy way to say "lazy."
  7. lackadaisical
    idle or indolent especially in a dreamy way
    The action took place in a sunny, lackadaisical way, with long lags between riders. The Milagro Beanfield War
    Alack is an old expression of grief or dismay, often following alas. "Alack the day" or "lack-a-day" is an obsolete way of saying "darn it" or "that sucks." Someone prone to saying it and then giving up on whatever wasn't working would then be called lackadaisical, with the implication that they'd then just go lie on a couch or something, defeated. Over time it became more about the do-nothing response than the initial exclamation.
  8. lassitude
    a feeling of lack of interest or energy
    They all lounged in glamorous lassitude on the sofa, and on the rug, while heavy rock, which Ifemelu thought was unharmonious noise, played on the CD player. Americanah
    Lassus is Latin for "weary."
  9. leisure
    time available for ease and relaxation
    In all the stories she had read or heard, the fairies seemed to do nothing more than drink and dance, enjoying a life of leisure and frivolity. Ash
  10. loll
    be lazy or idle
    Here they meandered in their tiny sailboats, tacking and coming about; they painted, hoed, swept, and planted when the mood for therapeutic work struck them, and lolled on the beach when they felt like it. Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel
    Lollen is Middle Dutch for "to sleep."
  11. prone
    lying face downward
    Back in his room, he tipped onto the bed, prone atop the quilts, and was asleep halfway through his second breath. Strange the Dreamer
    If you lie flat on your belly, you're prone. It can also mean "inclined to do something," and that's because the Latin pronus means "leaning forward" as well as "prostrate."
  12. prostrate
    stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
    I looked towards the knoll: there he lay, still as a prostrate column; his face turned to me: his eye beaming watchful and keen. Jane Eyre
  13. sloth
    a disinclination to work or exert yourself
    Laziness was sloth and sloth was a sin. My Brother Sam is Dead
    A sloth is a tree-dwelling jungle animal famous for moving very slowly, and the word also describes a state of sluggishness or unwillingness to do anything. It comes from the Early Middle English slōwðe, which comes from the same root as slow.
  14. snooze
    sleep lightly or for a short period of time
    Wart was pleased that it was Kay’s turn to go through it now and he lay drowsily in the shade, snoozing, scratching, twitching like a dog and partly attending to the fun. The Once and Future King
  15. supine
    lying face upward
    She lay supine on her bed without a pillow, a glass of water within easy reach and, at her side, a book she knew she could not read. Atonement
    The opposite of prone, supine means lying on your back.
Created on Mon May 18 13:21:48 EDT 2020 (updated Mon Jun 26 09:24:55 EDT 2023)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.