Basic+ Word of the Day: delay

delay (verb, noun) past tense: delayed

Delay means ‘to put off until a later time.’

• The flight was delayed because of the snow storm.
• Joe delayed his walk until the afternoon.

A delay is a postponement or something that makes things happen late.

• The car accident caused a traffic delay.
• The delay of the software release put the company at a disadvantage.

Common uses

delayed reaction: A reaction that is not immediate. Example: “When Liz took the new medicine, she felt fine at first; but the next day she had a delayed reaction and developed a rash on her arm.”

In pop culture

Delayed gratification is the ability to delay something rewarding now so that you can get something even better later. In this experiment, small children are told they can eat one marshmallow now or wait and receive an additional marshmallow later. Watch what they do.

There are other meanings of delay.