Definition:
tending to delay or procrastinate; slow; tardy.
intended to cause delay, gain time, or defer decision: a dilatory strategy.
Examples:
His dilatory action seemed to increase the young woman's panic.
A Rock in the Baltic Robert Barr
He had been dilatory but now he intended to get down to business.
The Lady Doc Caroline Lockhart
Did You Know:
late 15c., from Late Latin dilatorius, from dilator "procrastinator," from dilatus, serving as past participle of differe "delay".
"Lufton is so dilatory," Mr. Sowerby said. "Why did he not arrange this at once, when he promised it? ..." Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage, 1861.
