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dilatory: msg#00020culture.language.word-of-the-day
***************************************************************** Discover the people and events that made history ON THIS DAY. Sign up for the free daily newsletter from Britannica. http://register.britannica.com/mailinglist ***************************************************************** The Word of the Day for November 21 is: dilatory \DIL-uh-tor-ee\ adjective 1 : tending or intended to cause delay *2 : characterized by procrastination : tardy Example sentence: Maura has been dilatory in paying her bills, and she now owes late fees in addition to the original amounts due. Did you know? Slow down. Set a leisurely pace. What's the hurry? If procrastination is your style, "dilatory" is the word for you. That term has been used in English to describe things that cause delay since at least the 15th century, and its ancestors were hanging around with similar meanings long before that. If you take the time to trace the roots of "dilatory," you will discover that it derives from "dilatus," the past participle of the Latin verb "differre," which meant either "to postpone" or "to differ." If you think "differre" looks like several other English words, you have a discerning eye. That verb is also an ancestor of the words "different" and "defer." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. |
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