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.
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.