English Dictionary |
DILLY-DALLY (dilly-dallied)
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IPA (US): | ![]() |
Dictionary entry overview: What does dilly-dally mean?
• DILLY-DALLY (verb)
The verb DILLY-DALLY has 1 sense:
1. postpone doing what one should be doing
Familiarity information: DILLY-DALLY used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Postpone doing what one should be doing
Classified under:
Verbs of being, having, spatial relations
Synonyms:
dilly-dally; dillydally; drag one's feet; drag one's heels; procrastinate; shillyshally; stall
Context example:
He did not want to write the letter and procrastinated for days
Hypernyms (to "dilly-dally" is one way to...):
delay (act later than planned, scheduled, or required)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dilly-dally"):
procrastinate (postpone or delay needlessly)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Sentence example:
They dilly-dally the cape
Context examples
There is no time to dilly-dally in our work.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
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