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dilatory

UK/ˈdɪlət(ə)ɹi/US/ˈdɪləˌtɔɹi/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,689 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Dilatory means slow to act and inclined to put things off. Dilatory replies, a dilatory solicitor, dilatory in paying.

It is a formal word and often an accusation of deliberate delay rather than mere slowness. In parliament, dilatory tactics are moves made only to waste time.

Definitions of dilatory

  1. 1adjectivedilatorySlow to act, and inclined to put things off.C2

    “The council was dilatory in answering any of the letters.”

dilatory is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin dilatorius comes from differre, to carry apart or put off, whose past stem is lat-; it has nothing to do with dilate.

  1. Latin

    dīlātōrius — extending or putting off (time)

  2. Old French

    dilatoire

  3. Middle English

    dilatorie

  4. English, today

    dilatory

From Middle English dilatorie, from Old French dilatoire, from Latin dīlātōrius (“extending or putting off (time)”), from dīlātor, from differō. Not etymologically related to delay.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

dilatory in the wild

  • Although a good writer on scientific topics, he was deemed a poor chief editor of the Britannica, being "slow and dilatory and not well qualified".

    James Millar (physician)

  • However other sources contradict this viewpoint and indeed it was not uncommon for Staunton to attribute his losses to the intolerable dilatory play of his opponents.

    Elijah Williams (chess player)

  • The motion to pass on is a dilatory parliamentary motion used in parliamentary procedure.

    Motion to pass on

  • Because of his dilatory progress, Rossini was almost imprisoned in his room until he finished the music.

    Palazzo Barbaja, Naples

  • The negotiations proved very dilatory and treaties were not signed until after Vitellius died.

    Erasmus Vitellius

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.