Meaning & use
dilly-dally
To waste time by moving or acting slowly and without any clear purpose.
See it in a sentence
Stop dilly-dallying and get your shoes on, or we'll miss the bus.
She dilly-dallied over the menu for twenty minutes before finally ordering.
A note on using this word
Dilly-dally is informal and often used as a mild scolding, especially toward children who are taking too long.
Words with a similar meaning
dawdleprocrastinate
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
hurry
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