dilatory
1dilatory — I adjective after time, behind time, belated, deferring, delayed, delaying, deliberately slow, eleventh hour, inclined to delay, indolent, intended to bring about delay, intended to defer decision, intended to gain time, lackadaisical, last… …
2Dilatory — Dil a*to*ry, a. [L. dilatorius, fr. dilator a delayer, fr. dilatus, used as p. p. of differe to defer, delay: cf. F. dilatoire. See {Dilate}, {Differ}, {Defer}.] 1. Inclined to defer or put off what ought to be done at once; given the… …
3dilatory — [dil′ə tôr΄ē] adj. [ME dilatorie < LL dilatorius < L dilator, dilatory person < dilatus, pp. of differre, DEFER1] 1. causing or tending to cause delay; meant to gain time, defer action, etc. 2. inclined to delay; slow or late in doing… …
4dilatory — late 15c., from L.L. dilatorius, from dilator procrastinator, from dilatus, serving as pp. of differe delay (see DEFER (Cf. defer)) …
5dilatory — *slow, laggard, deliberate, leisurely Analogous words: procrastinating, delaying, dawdling (see DELAY): *negligent, neglectful, lax, slack, remiss Antonyms: diligent Contrasted words: *busy, assiduous, sedulous, industrious: *quick, prompt, ready …
6dilatory — meaning ‘given to or causing delay’, is pronounced dil tǝ ri. The same stress pattern applies, rather more awkwardly, to the derivative forms dilatorily and dilatoriness …
7dilatory — [adj] procrastinating backward, behindhand, dallying, delaying, deliberate, laggard, late, lax, lazy, leisurely, lingering, loitering, moratory, neglectful, negligent, putting off, remiss, slack, slow, sluggish, snail like*, tardy, tarrying, time …
8dilatory — ► ADJECTIVE 1) slow to act. 2) intended to cause delay. DERIVATIVES dilatoriness noun. ORIGIN Latin dilatorius, from dilator delayer …
9dilatory — adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo French dilatorie, Late Latin dilatorius, from Latin differre (past participle dilatus) to postpone, differ more at differ, tolerate Date: 15th century 1. tending or intended to cause delay < dilator …
10dilatory — [[t]dɪ̱lətri, AM tɔːri[/t]] ADJ GRADED Someone or something that is dilatory is slow and causes delay. [FORMAL] You might expect politicians to smooth things out when civil servants are being dilatory …
