time during which some action is awaited; "instant replay caused too long a delay"; "he ordered a hold in the action"
Used in a Sentence
delay
How to use delay in a sentence. Example sentences and definitions for delay.
Editorial note
If you delay it, it'll be ten times as much work as just doing it correctly up front.
Examples9
Definitions6
Parts of speech2
Quick take
time during which some action is awaited; "instant replay caused too long a delay"; "he ordered a hold in the action"
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of delay gathered in one view.
the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time
cause to be slowed down or delayed; "Traffic was delayed by the bad weather"; "she delayed the work that she didn't want to perform"
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for delay.
noun
time during which some action is awaited; "instant replay caused too long a delay"; "he ordered a hold in the action"
See also: hold, postponement, wait
noun
the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time
See also: holdup
verb
cause to be slowed down or delayed; "Traffic was delayed by the bad weather"; "she delayed the work that she didn't want to perform"
See also: detain
verb
act later than planned, scheduled, or required; "Don't delay your application to graduate school or else it won't be considered"
verb
stop or halt; "Please stay the bloodshed!"
verb
slow the growth or development of; "The brain damage will retard the child's language development"
Example sentences
If you delay it, it'll be ten times as much work as just doing it correctly up front.
My deepest apologies for the delay and trouble on that.
There might be a delay in responding if I get a lot of messages or if you have a particularly challenging question.
If you're delaying on this point out of some idea of wanting to "try to fix things first" or "not wanting to be the bad guy," you're just shooting yourself in the foot and downing blood thinners to keep the wound from clotting.
One merely has to refer to RFC 1149[1] to determine why this solution is obviously unacceptable:"Avian carriers can provide high delay, low throughput, and low altitude service.
It then used this report to send a demand letter to the midwest firm, claiming that their management of the construction project was inept and that it had to pay millions of dollars in damages on account of the delays in construction.
If we find a hardware bug in real silicon, at best, we catch it the moment we get the first chip back, and it means that we have a multiple month delay as we fix it and tape out a new chip, not to mention the cost of throwing away all of the partially fabbed chips we've got, plus the multiple million dollar cost of a new mask set.
After hiring a firm out of the midwest to manage the construction on a fixed-fee contract, it proceeded to make life miserable for that firm by making never-ending revisions to the project plans throughout the course of construction and this not only caused that firm to incur cost overruns but also had the effect of causing substantial delays in getting the work done.
Thousands of hours of billable time racked up and this process was maybe 10 or 15% done when I decided to do a very careful analysis of a relatively few key documents only, to put the story in a context that readily demonstrated the sham nature of the "delay damages report," to summarize everything in a 50-page write-up, and to give that to the partner in charge.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use delay in a sentence?
If you delay it, it'll be ten times as much work as just doing it correctly up front.
What does delay mean?
time during which some action is awaited; "instant replay caused too long a delay"; "he ordered a hold in the action"
What part of speech is delay?
delay is commonly used as noun, verb.