delay

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of DELAY

to move or act slowly <she ordered the kids to stop delaying and to get to bed>

Synonyms crawl, creep, dally, dawdle, diddle, dillydally, drag, lag, linger, loiter, lollygag (also lallygag), mope, poke, shilly-shally, tarry

Related Words fiddle (around), fool around, mess around, monkey (around), play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle; hang (around or out), idle, loaf, loll, lounge; amble, ease, inch, lumber, plod, saunter, shuffle, stagger, stroll; decelerate, slow (down or up); filibuster, procrastinate, stall, temporize

Phrases drag one's feet (also drag one's heels), drop behind, fall behind, hang fire, mark time, take one's time

Near Antonyms bowl, breeze, dart, hump, hurtle, hustle, scramble, stampede; gallop, jog, run, sprint, trot; accelerate, quicken, speed (up); catch up, fast-forward, outpace, outrun, outstrip, overtake

Antonyms barrel, bolt, career, course, dash, fly, hasten, hotfoot (it), hurry, race, rip, rocket, run, rush, scoot, scud, scurry, speed, tear, whirl, whisk, whiz (or whizz), zip

to assign to a later time <our guests delayed their departure until after dinner>

Synonyms defer, delay, hold off (on), hold over, hold up, lay over, put off, put over, remit, shelve

Related Words suspend; hesitate, pause, stay; detain, retard, slow; extend, lengthen, prolong, protract, stretch (out); wait

Near Antonyms act, deal (with), decide (upon), do, work (on)

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