The Devil finds work for idle hands to do
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Idle people are more likely to get into trouble or mischief
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Người nhàn rỗi dễ gặp rắc rối hoặc gây ra chuyện
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: giving tasks to hands that are not otherwise occupied
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.
Common questions
What does “The Devil finds work for idle hands to do” mean?
Idle people are more likely to get into trouble or mischief Literally: giving tasks to hands that are not otherwise occupied
Is “The Devil finds work for idle hands to do” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.