Dilatory \Dil"a*to*ry\, a. [L. dilatorius, fr. dilator a
delayer, fr. dilatus, used as p. p. of differe to defer,
delay: cf. F. dilatoire. See Dilate, Differ, Defer.]
1. Inclined to defer or put off what ought to be done at
once; given the procrastination; delaying;
procrastinating; loitering; as, a dilatory servant.
[1913 Webster]
2. Marked by procrastination or delay; tardy; slow; sluggish;
-- said of actions or measures.
[1913 Webster]
Alva, as usual, brought his dilatory policy to bear
upon his adversary. --Motley.
[1913 Webster]
Dilatory plea (Law), a plea designed to create delay in the
trial of a cause, generally founded upon some matter not
connected with the merits of the case.
Syn: Slow; delaying; sluggish; inactive; loitering;
behindhand; backward; procrastinating. See Slow.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
dilatory
adj 1: inclined to waste time and lag behind [syn: laggard]
2: wasting time [syn: laggard, poky, pokey]
3: using cautious slow strategy to wear down opposition;
avoiding direct confrontation; "a fabian policy" [syn: fabian]
WordNet (r) 2.0
65 Moby Thesaurus words for "dilatory":
Micawberish, apathetic, backward, balking, balky, bone-lazy,
cadging, dallying, dawdling, delaying, deliberate, dillydallying,
do-nothing, doless, dragging, dronish, drony, easy, easygoing,
ergophobic, faineant, foot-dragging, good-for-nothing, grudging,
indifferent, indolent, lackadaisical, laggard, lagging, lax, lazy,
leisurely, lingering, loath, loitering, lollygagging, neglectful,
negligent, nonaggressive, parasitic, perfunctory, procrastinating,
procrastinative, procrastinatory, reluctant, remiss, renitent,
restive, scrounging, shiftless, shilly-shallying, shuffling, slack,
slothful, slow, slow to, sluggish, sponging, tarrying,
unenterprising, unenthusiastic, unhasty, unhurried, unzealous,
work-shy
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
DILATORY. That which is intended for delay. It is a maxim, that delays in
law are odious, dilationes in lege sunt odiosae. Plowd. 75.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
fabian, laggard, pokey, poky
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