Meaning & use
procrastinate
Last updated
Meaning
verbintransitivedisapproving
To keep putting off a task you should do, often by spending time on easier or more pleasant things.
Grammar: No object follows it: he procrastinated; you can add about or over: procrastinate over a decision.
Patterns
- procrastinate about something
- procrastinate over something
I always procrastinate when I have a long report to write.
Instead of studying, he procrastinated by cleaning his whole room.
Don't procrastinate about booking the tickets or they will sell out.
Word forms
| third person singular | procrastinates |
|---|---|
| past tense | procrastinated |
| past participle | procrastinated |
| -ing form | procrastinating |
Common combinations
- tend to procrastinate
- Many students tend to procrastinate before exams.
- stop procrastinating
- It's time to stop procrastinating and start the project.
- procrastinate over a decision
- He procrastinated over the decision for weeks.
- chronically procrastinate
- She chronically procrastinates on her taxes.
- no time to procrastinate
- With the deadline tomorrow, there is no time to procrastinate.
Synonyms and how they differ
- delay
- Delay is neutral and can describe any postponement, but procrastinate suggests a personal habit of avoiding work.
- dawdle
- Dawdle means to move or work too slowly, while procrastinate means not starting or finishing at all.
- stall
- Stall implies deliberately holding something up to gain time, often when dealing with others.
- put off
- Put off is an everyday phrasal verb that needs an object, as in put off the task, whereas procrastinate stands alone.
Opposites
Word family
- procrastination noun
- the habit of delaying what you should do
- procrastinator noun
- a person who keeps putting things off
- procrastinating adjective
- tending to delay
- procrastinatory adjective
- relating to delay, rare and formal
Commonly confused: procrastinate or postpone?
procrastinate vs postpone
Postpone is a deliberate and often sensible decision to move something to a later time, while procrastinate suggests avoiding something that should be done now.
Practice
Her habit of ___ meant she always finished her work at the last minute.
Choose one answer.
After the preposition of, the noun procrastination is needed. Procrastinator names a person, and the verb forms cannot follow habit of in this way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “procrastinate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.