Meaning & use
dally
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Meanings
verbintransitiveold-fashioned
To take too long or waste time instead of acting quickly.
Grammar: No object; often used in orders: don't dally.
Patterns
- dally over something
Don't dally, the bus leaves in five minutes.
She dallied over breakfast and missed the start.
verbintransitiveformal
To play with an idea or activity without serious commitment.
Grammar: Followed by with: dally with an idea.
Patterns
- dally with something
He dallied with the idea of moving abroad.
She dallied with painting before choosing law.
verbintransitiveold-fashioned
To flirt or have a casual romance with someone.
Grammar: Followed by with.
Patterns
- dally with someone
The prince dallied with several admirers.
He was accused of dallying with his secretary.
Word forms
| third person singular | dallies |
|---|---|
| past tense | dallied |
| past participle | dallied |
| -ing form | dallying |
Common combinations
- dally with
- Don't dally with my feelings.
- no time to dally
- We have no time to dally.
- dally over
- He dallied over the decision.
- dilly-dally
- Stop dilly-dallying and get dressed.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dawdle
- Dawdle is more common and usually describes walking or acting slowly.
- linger
- Linger suggests staying on, often with pleasure.
- procrastinate
- Procrastinate means putting off a task, usually a duty.
Opposites
Word family
- dalliance noun
- a brief, casual romance or a playing with an idea
Commonly confused: dally or dolly?
dally vs dolly
A dolly is a toy doll or a wheeled platform; it is unrelated.
Practice
We have no time to ___ if we want to catch the train.
Choose one answer.
Dally means waste time, which is the sense of no time to do. Hurry is what you need to do, so it makes the sentence illogical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dally”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.