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“dilatory”
dilatory (adjective), more dilatory, most dilatory
1. A reference to an inclination or intention to waste time, to cause a delay, or to lag behind: Because of the auto accident on the street, it took Monroe a great deal of dilatory time to get home after work.
2. Using cautious slow strategy to wear down the opposition; and so, avoiding direct confrontation and deferring a decision: The congressman, Mr. Gould, used a dilatory strategy to keep the bill from being passed.
3. Etymology: from Latin dilatorius; from dilator, "procrastinator", from dilatus, the past participle form of differe, "to delay".
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2. Using cautious slow strategy to wear down the opposition; and so, avoiding direct confrontation and deferring a decision: The congressman, Mr. Gould, used a dilatory strategy to keep the bill from being passed.
3. Etymology: from Latin dilatorius; from dilator, "procrastinator", from dilatus, the past participle form of differe, "to delay".
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This entry is located in the following units:
dis-, di-, dif-
(page 3)
-fer, -ferous
(page 3)
later-, lateral-, -late, -lat, -lation, -lative
(page 1)
-ory
(page 1)
Word Entries at Get Words:
“dilatory”
Relating to wasting time or to cause a delay; descriptive of a strategy to wear down the opposition in order to avoid a direct confrontation or to postpone a decision until later. (2)
This entry is located in the following unit:
Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words
(page 30)