Word
delay
Phoneticsde·lay
US/dɪˈɫeɪ/
UK/dɪlˈeɪ/
Definitions
01a period of waiting
n. a period of time when you must wait because something is late.
n. a period of time by which something is late or postponed.
“The heavy snow caused a long delay at the airport.”
“Commuters faced a significant delay this morning after a signalling failure disrupted the main line into the city centre.”
02audio effect
n. an electronic effect that repeats a sound shortly after it happens.
n. an audio signal processing technique or device that records an input signal and plays it back after a period of time.
“The guitarist used a delay pedal to create a dreamy sound.”
“The producer applied a subtle tape delay to the vocal track to give it more depth and a vintage character.”
Technical
Synonyms
03to make something late
v. to make something happen at a later time than planned.
v. to make someone or something late; to slow down progress or movement.
“The bad weather will delay our flight by at least two hours.”
“Unexpected legal complications have delayed the construction of the new stadium until early next year.”
Pitfall
The rain delayed to start the match.
The rain delayed the start of the match.
The verb 'delay' is transitive and usually takes a noun or a gerund (-ing) as an object, not an infinitive.
04to wait or hesitate
v. to wait before doing something, often because you are not ready.
v. to linger or procrastinate before taking action. Often used without a direct object.
“Do not delay — send your application in today.”
“The general decided not to delay, ordering the troops to move forward before the enemy could regroup.”
Synonyms
Real-World Examples
“And most hospitals will have an eye doctor on call."
Because of the delay in symptoms developing it is not yet possible to say if anyone has experienced any damage to their eyes.” “So why is it taking so long for the government to decide what to do, and what are the consequences of delay?” “The policy has repeatedly been delayed, but the cost for farmers is already adding up.” “It was, they both said, much better than the one they saw in New York in April 2024 - and well worth delaying their journey home for.” Etymology
From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish lattjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic latjaną (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European leh₁d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic laibijaną (“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European leyp- (“to remain, continue”)). Doublet of dally. Akin to Old English latian (“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu (“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English lǣfan (“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.
From Middle English delaien, from Old French delaiier, a variant of delaissier.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Scan code
englishreference.com/q/delay