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Friday December 11, 2009

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dilatory [DIL-uh-tor-ee]

adjective

1. Inclined to put off what ought to be done at once; given to procrastination.
2. Marked by procrastination or delay; tardy; slow; -- said of actions or measures.

• The New York Review of Books has published The Complete Fiction of Francis Wyndham. Now in his mid-80s, Wyndham is best known in his native England as a critic. His collected works are small -- a novella and two collections of stories, although it's unclear whether that's because of dilatory habits or because journalism is such a harsh mistress.
  Scott Eyman, "BOOKS WHAT ARE YOU READING?E-MAIL SCOTTEYMAN@PBPOST.COM 'COMPLETE' WYNDHAM HAS CONFESSIONAL TONE", Palm Beach Post, Oct 4, 2009
• As Flash flashes back to a troubling event in Afghanistan while spending time with Alexandra and arguing with her war-traumatized husband over the phone, "The Last War" heads to a conclusion that strives to be both surprising and bittersweet, but it can't redeem the novel's dilatory pace.
  Zofia Smardz, "Love Is a Battlefield", The Washington Post, The Washington Post
• To those who have never attempted to track a fellow creature surreptitiously through the streets of London on a hot day, the feat may appear simple. It is in reality a most exhausting, dilatory, and humiliating exercise.
  Ian Hay (1876 - 1952) A Scottish novelist and playwright. The Story of a Perfect Gentleman (1915)

Origin of the Word

Dilatory, approximately 1530, derives from Latin dilatorius, from dilator "procrastinator," from dilatus, serving as past particple of differe "delay."