Meaning & use
delayer
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Meanings
verbtransitivebusiness
To remove levels of managers from a company so that decisions are made with fewer bosses.
Grammar: Takes an object: delayer the organization. It is often used in the passive: the company was delayered.
Patterns
- delayer a company
- delayer an organization
- be delayered
The new chief executive promised to delayer the company and give more power to local teams.
After the merger, managers delayered the head office and cut three layers of supervision.
Some critics say the firm delayered too quickly and lost important experience.
nouncountable
A person or thing that makes something happen later than planned.
Grammar: Countable noun; plural delayers. It is much less common than the verb.
Patterns
- a delayer of something
The traffic jam was the main delayer of our arrival.
He is known as a delayer who never makes a quick decision.
Word forms
| third person singular | delayers |
|---|---|
| past tense | delayered |
| past participle | delayered |
| -ing form | delayering |
| plural | delayers |
Common combinations
- delayer an organization
- The board decided to delayer the organization to speed up decisions.
- delayer the management
- They delayered the management after the restructuring.
- be delayered
- The company was delayered last year.
- delayering process
- The delayering process took several months.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flatten
- Flatten is used in business to mean removing levels of hierarchy; it is more figurative and slightly less formal than delayer.
- streamline
- Streamline means making a system simpler and more efficient, often by removing unnecessary steps; it does not always involve removing management levels.
Opposites
Word family
- delayering noun
- The act of removing levels of management from a company.
Commonly confused: delayer or delay?
delayer vs delay
Delay means to make something happen later or to be late. Delayer is about removing management levels, not about time.
Practice
The company decided to ______ to reduce bureaucracy.
Choose one answer.
The correct answer is 'delayer' because it means to remove management levels. 'Delay' means to make something happen later, which does not fit the context of reducing bureaucracy. 'Delayed' is a past tense form that would not fit after 'to', and 'delaying' would need a different structure.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “delayer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.