| English Dictionary |
DILATORY
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does dilatory mean?
• DILATORY (adjective)
The adjective DILATORY has 1 sense:
1. wasting time
Familiarity information: DILATORY used as an adjective is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Wasting time
Synonyms:
dilatory; laggard; pokey; poky
Similar:
slow (not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time)
Context examples
He always moved with the alertness of a mind which could neither be undecided nor dilatory, but now he seemed more sudden than usual in his disappearance.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
His letter was soon dispatched; for, though dilatory in undertaking business, he was quick in its execution.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
The latter method of obtaining the desired intelligence was dilatory and unsatisfactory; besides, I had an insurmountable aversion to the idea of engaging myself in my loathsome task in my father’s house while in habits of familiar intercourse with those I loved.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
His family knew him to be, on all common occasions, a most negligent and dilatory correspondent; but at such a time they had hoped for exertion.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
"Nope." After a pause he added "sir" in a dilatory, grudging way.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The dilatory limousine came rolling up the drive.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"A fire should be extinguished when it is small; an enemy should be subdued while young." (Bhutanese proverb)
"Give a man some cloth and he'll ask for some lining." (Arabic proverb)
"The death of one person means bread for another." (Dutch proverb)