Futz /fʌts/ noun

Definition:  A futz can refer to any of the following: 

• The act of passing time doing nothing/ idleness
• To pretend one is doing something while in fact not doing anything productive
• To do something without any methodology, usually by trial and error
• A foolish or stupid person

Etymology: The early mentions of the word futz in an English context were in the 1930s. It was thought to have come either as an alteration of the German word herumfurzen, which literally translates to “fart around,” or the Yiddish word, arumfartsn zikh. The latter also means to fart around and was probably also an earlier variation of herumfurzen.

In a Sentence

For all his musical genius, he’s such a futz in person.

The deadline is almost here; you can’t afford to futz with the report any longer.

When giving a speech at a social occasion, you need to futz around a bit before getting to the serious bits – it keeps the audience hooked.

Synonyms 

Idle, Putz, Dawdle

Antonyms 

Assiduous, Diligent