delay

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“
It meant a delay, and a delay was the one thing they did not want just now They desired to get to the other side of the moon while the long period of sunshine gave them an opportunity for observation.

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Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. transitive verb To postpone until a later time; defer.
  2. transitive verb To cause to be later or slower than expected or desired: Heavy traffic delayed us.
  3. intransitive verb To act or move slowly; put off an action or a decision.
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Examples (50)

  • Before the Senate vote for a delay was announced, Taylor expected another 10 million coupons to be redeemed before the February transition deadline. —  Netflash
  • One reason for the delay is a request from the finance ministry to double the minimum bid prices. —  BusinessWeek.com --
  • The reason for the delay is the huge capacity of the oceans to soak up heat. —  Macleans.ca
  • In any event, while I think the delay was a strategic move, I'm happy Palin and her staff are finally cooperating. —  Donklephant
  • "The most common reason for the delay was an assumption that the symptoms were not serious, with many women attributing them to another medical condition or the natural process of ageing," said Dr Helen Zorbas, CEO, National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre. —  Health News from Medical News Today
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

delay:   delays ·  delaying ·  delayed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English delaien, from Anglo-Norman delaier, from Old French deslaier : des-, de- + laier, to leave, of Germanic origin; see leip- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English delayen, delaien, from Old French delaier, delayer, deleier, delear, also dellaier, deslaier, etc., dilaier, dilayer, etc., later delayer, French délayer = Spanish Portuguese dilatar = Italian dilatare, also (after F.) dilajare, from Middle Latin dilatare (also delatare), put off, delay, extend the time of, literally extend, spread out, dilate, from Latin dilatus, past participle associated with differre, put off, defer, later ult. English defer, differ: see dilate, defer, differ. Thus delay is a doublet of dilate, and practically of defer, differ, being ult. attached to the same Latin infinitive differre. Cf. delay.
  2. from Middle English delay, from Old French delai, delay, dilai, dilais, French délai, masculine, Old French also delaie. feminine, = Italian dilata, feminine, delay; from the verb.
  3. from French délayer, dilute, mix with water, spin out a discourse, = Provencal desleguar = Italian dileguare, dilute, from Middle Latin *disliquare, *diliquare, the same, with slightly different prefix (dis-, di-, instead of de-), as L. deliquare, also delicare, clarify a liquid by straining it, from de, off, + liquare, liquefy: see deliquate, liquate, liquid. apparently more or less associated, erroneously, with delay (Old French delayer, etc.). delate (which, though equivalent in sense to delay, is prop, a form of dilate), dilate, and with allay, allay.
 

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/dəˈleɪ/
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