Definitions for delay
dɪˈleɪde·lay

Princeton's WordNet(3.50 / 4 votes)Rate this definition:

1. delay, hold, time lag, postponement, waitnoun

   time during which some action is awaited

   "instant replay caused too long a delay"; "he ordered a hold in the action"

2. delay, holdupverb

   the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time

3. delay, detain, hold upverb

   cause to be slowed down or delayed

   "Traffic was delayed by the bad weather"; "she delayed the work that she didn't want to perform"

4. delayverb

   act later than planned, scheduled, or required

   "Don't delay your application to graduate school or else it won't be considered"

5. stay, detain, delayverb

   stop or halt

   "Please stay the bloodshed!"

6. check, retard, delayverb

   slow the growth or development of

   "The brain damage will retard the child's language development"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. delaynoun

   previously unexpected period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying.

   Etymology: From delaien, from delaier, deslaier, from des- + laier, a conflation of Old , and Old . Akin to latian, latu, læfan. More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

2. delayverb

   To put off until a later time; to distract.

   Etymology: From delaien, from delaier, deslaier, from des- + laier, a conflation of Old , and Old . Akin to latian, latu, læfan. More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

3. delayverb

   To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time.

   Etymology: From delaien, from delaier, deslaier, from des- + laier, a conflation of Old , and Old . Akin to latian, latu, læfan. More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

Webster Dictionary(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Delay

   a putting off or deferring; procrastination; lingering inactivity; stop; detention; hindrance

   Etymology: [OF. deleer, delaier, fr. the noun dlai, or directly fr. L. dilatare to enlarge, dilate, in LL., to put off. See Delay, n., and cf. Delate, 1st Defer, Dilate.]

2. Delaynoun

   to put off; to defer; to procrastinate; to prolong the time of or before

   Etymology: [OF. deleer, delaier, fr. the noun dlai, or directly fr. L. dilatare to enlarge, dilate, in LL., to put off. See Delay, n., and cf. Delate, 1st Defer, Dilate.]

3. Delaynoun

   to retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time; to retard the motion, or time of arrival, of; as, the mail is delayed by a heavy fall of snow

   Etymology: [OF. deleer, delaier, fr. the noun dlai, or directly fr. L. dilatare to enlarge, dilate, in LL., to put off. See Delay, n., and cf. Delate, 1st Defer, Dilate.]

4. Delaynoun

   to allay; to temper

   Etymology: [OF. deleer, delaier, fr. the noun dlai, or directly fr. L. dilatare to enlarge, dilate, in LL., to put off. See Delay, n., and cf. Delate, 1st Defer, Dilate.]

5. Delayverb

   to move slowly; to stop for a time; to linger; to tarry

   Etymology: [OF. deleer, delaier, fr. the noun dlai, or directly fr. L. dilatare to enlarge, dilate, in LL., to put off. See Delay, n., and cf. Delate, 1st Defer, Dilate.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Delay

   Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Delay

   de-lā′, v.t. to put off to another time: to defer: to hinder or retard.—v.i. to pause, linger, or put off time.—n. a putting off or deferring: a lingering: hinderance:—pr.p. delay′ing; pa.p. delayed′.—n. Delay′er.—adv. Delay′ingly. [O. Fr. delaier—L. differre, dilātum—dis, apart, ferre, to carry.]

2. Delay

   de-lā′, v.t. (Spens.) to temper, dilute, weaken. [Fr. délayer, dilute—L. deliquāre, clarify.]

Matched Categories

1. • Wait

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'delay' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4077

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'delay' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4483

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'delay' in Nouns Frequency: #1299

4. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'delay' in Verbs Frequency: #609

Anagrams for delay »

1. Ladye

How to pronounce delay?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say delay in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of delay in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of delay in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of delay in a Sentence

1. De Haan:

   This is a long duration event, if you don't need fuel urgently, delay purchases for those who are critical and first responders.

2. Reza Mostafavi Tabatabaei:

   Because of the sanctions, Iran didn't have enough money to pay for the rig, because of the delay in payments, the selling company canceled the contract.

3. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki:

   We did however, convey the delay to SIGAR and we did not intentionally withhold information for these quarterly reports. We expect it will be complete in the next quarter with all of the details across the board.

4. Andrew Mies:

   Any delay or setback in the reopening theme is probably going to be a headwind for the energy sector, (But)the market is telling you that its confidence in the cyclicals are diminished right now.

5. President Barack Obama:

   I apologize for the slight delay; even presidents have problems with toner.

Popularity rank by frequency of use