Standard Lemma guide

doddle

noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdɒdl̩/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈdɑd(ə)l/
  • rhymes with -ɒdəl
  • homophone: dawdle (cot–caught merger)

1

noun

Meaning 1

A job, task, or other activity that is easy to complete or simple.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, Ireland, UK, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bagatelle, waltz, breeze, cake and gingerbread, cakewalk, child's play, cinch, doddle, doss, duck soup, easy pickings, gimme, layup, low-hanging fruit, no-brainer, open and shut case, picnic, piece of cake, piece of piss, plain sailing, plane sailing, slam dunk, snap, walk in the park, walkover

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A hornless animal; a pollard or doddy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To dodder.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

Misspelling of dawdle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, misspelling

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

an easy task

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cinch, breeze, picnic, snap, duck soup, child's play, pushover, walkover, piece of cake

History

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from dialectal English doddle (“to toddle, to sway, to nod drowsily”).

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Russian: легкотня́ (lexkotnjá) — an easy task
  • Russian: пустя́к (pustják) — an easy task