Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Intended to delay.
- adj. Tending to postpone or delay: dilatory in his work habits. See Synonyms at slow.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Marked by or given to procrastination or delay; slow; tardy; not prompt: as, dilatory measures; a dilatory messenger.
- Intended to bring about delay, or to gain time and defer decision: as, a dilatory motion.
- n. In law, a plea or other proceeding in a suit which is intended to delay the suit without reference to its merits.
Wiktionary
- adj. Intentionally delaying (someone or something), intended to cause delay, gain time, or defer decision.
- adj. Slow or tardy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Inclined to defer or put off what ought to be done at once; given the procrastination; delaying; procrastinating; loitering.
- adj. Marked by procrastination or delay; tardy; slow; sluggish; -- said of actions or measures.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. wasting time
Etymologies
- Middle English dilatorie, from Latin dīlātōrius, from dīlātor, delayer, from dīlātus, past participle of differre, to delay : dī-, dis-, apart; see dis- + lātus, carried; see telə- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“There is a questionable sort of beginning, which might be called dilatory, that consists in carrying the literary aspect of the essential facts to the extreme, and making them occupy a deal more valuable space than is rightly theirs.”
Short Story Writing A Practical Treatise on the Art of The Short Story
“The Senate, by precedent, has ruled such quorum calls dilatory, after cloture.”
“Gingrich branded the amendment strategy "dilatory" about the nicest thing he said about Democrats.”
“Democrats accused them of using "dilatory" tactics, but the Bushmen plodded on.”
“So it isn't obvious that he broke the law (on balance it seems not), in which case your rather ranting passage (terms such as dilatory, cavalier disregard, blatant disregard all appeared) seems somewhat tendentious and a bit overcooked.”
“With a view of allowing Jake time to "cover his tracks" he resorted to "dilatory" measures.”
“Lashed out at the team prosecuting him for drunk driving, calling them "unco-operative" and their trial "dilatory";”
“Smashing through the young Scotsman's media trained response, Snow went through the timetable the PSNI's "dilatory" response remorselessly.”
“By precedent, the Senate could make such quorum calls dilatory at any time, if no substantive business had intervened since a quorum had been previously established. www):”
“Working with majority leader Robert Byrd, I threw out a huge stack of obstructionist amendments with a series of rapid-fire parliamentary rulings because Senate rules required the presiding officer to reject them as nongermane, or “dilatory.””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dilatory’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 269 more...
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allover
reintegrate, spight, surveillant, harmonize, Colophon, workplace, bigoted, unsighted, bridgework, salutation, voltmeter, octane and 159 more...
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MyWordList
for GRE Vocab Building
eccentricity, rife, epiphany, menial, assert, plod, scathing, petty, chum, dilatory, prolific, banal and 10 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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words 1
Traduce, Ramify, precipitous, rapture, adumbrate, knell, smolder, vagary, choleric, sibylline, hypocritical, jejune and 135 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Jesse's random
bathos, dragoman, tessellated, escutcheon, eikon, mondaine, basilisk, ciborium, rubric, machicolation, jet, defalcation and 198 more...
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phrontistery - d
from phrontistery.info
dysteleology, dyslogistic, dystectic, dysphoria, dysphonia, dystopia, dysphemism, dystocia, dyslogia, dysaesthesia, dyschromatopic, dysbulia and 624 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Words For Novel (Part 2)
fable, sprite, syphilitic, anvil, wonderstruck, vertigo, bridled, tufted, fettered, savvy, tweed fedora, tryst and 255 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
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If You Can't Say Anything Nice
Negative attributes or actions.
biased, cantankerous, caustic, contumacious, dilatory, disdain, duplicitous, fastidious, fractious, glower, haughty, imperious and 22 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for dilatory.
ruzuzu I'm forever mixing this up with the word depilatory. Sep 12, 2012
billyvonraven It seems whenever I look up a word, honestly without knowing its meaning, it strikingly describes exactly what I have been experiencing that very day. Today, for example, I am putting off work by looking up words on Wordnik...the first word that popped into my head...dilatory, of course. Mar 26, 2012