dilatory
/ˈdɪləˌtɔri/Slow to act, and causing delay through hesitation (formal).
Example: His dilatory replies kept pushing the meeting back.
C210 words · Proficient
Appointments vocabulary — C2
Appointments vocabulary for scheduling in formal and institutional language, including tardy, dilatory, hiatus and prorogue — words for delay, lateness and postponement.
10 questions
Words in this set
10tardy
/ˈtɑrdi/Arriving or happening after the expected or agreed time (formal).
Example:
The report criticised her tardy arrival at client meetings.
unpunctual
Regularly failing to arrive or do things at the arranged time (formal).
Example:
Being unpunctual for client meetings damaged his reputation.
dilly-dally
To waste time when you should be getting on with something.
Example:
There is no time to dilly-dally between the two appointments.
sine die
With no date fixed for the next meeting.
Example:
The hearing was adjourned sine die and never resumed.
dovetail
/ˈdʌvˌteɪl/To fit together neatly.
Example:
The two schedules dovetail for exactly one week in June.
hiatus
/haɪˈeɪtəs/A pause during which nothing happens.
Example:
There was a six-month hiatus before anyone wrote again.
prorogue
To end a session of a formal body without dissolving it.
Example:
The committee agreed to prorogue until the autumn.
sitting
/ˈsɪtɪŋ/A period during which a formal body meets to do business.
Example:
The last sitting before the recess ran until midnight.
stand-in
Someone who takes another person's place temporarily.
Example:
A stand-in saw every patient that fortnight.
