delay

1. 1.

   time during which some action is awaited

   “instant replay caused too long a delay”

   “he ordered a hold in the action”

   Synonymsholdtime lagpostponementwait

   Broaderpause

   Narrowerextensionmoratoriumretardation
2. 2.

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

   Synonymsholdup

   Broaderinactivity

   Narrowerbreakdemurrageforbearancepostponementprocrastinationslowdowndalliancefilibuster

Other forms of delay

plural

delays·

past tense

delayed·

present participle

delaying·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about delay

What does delay mean?

delay means "cause to be slowed down or delayed". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in delay?

delay has 2 syllables: de-lay. The stress falls on "lay". In IPA it is /dɪˈleɪ/.

What is another word for delay?

Close synonyms include detain, hold up, stay, detain, check. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of delay?

The recorded antonyms are rush.

Is delay a common word?

delay is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with delay?

21 words rhyme with delay. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.