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Definition of time lag
: an interval of time between two related phenomena (such as a cause and its effect)
Examples of time lag in a Sentence
There's a time lag between when you see a stop sign and when your foot steps on the brake.
Recent Examples on the Web Most songs never get recorded, and those that reach the marketplace typically don't start paying royalties for 2-4 years, given the time lag of recording the song, promoting it and waiting for quarterly royalty payments.
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Tom Roland, Billboard, "Executive Exits At ASCAP, BMI, SESAC Point to Renewed Optimism In Publishing," 1 Oct. 2019 The project, which was based at the Stanford Research Institute International, was abandoned: the bandwidth available at the time was insufficient to operate a sensitive instrument halfway across the world without a devastating time lag.
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D. T. Max, The New Yorker, "Paging Dr. Robot," 23 Sep. 2019 But with a time lag of at least half a decade, the question is whether Africa is bound to be trailing behind.
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Wim Delva, Quartz Africa, "Data science institutions focused on Africa are being built across the continent," 8 Aug. 2019 But the time lag between children’s deaths and the public release of information about them can be significant.
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Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, "Why does it take DCF so long to release information on child deaths?," 28 June 2019 But a time lag between an announcement that Trump intends to nominate someone for a job and a formal nomination has sometimes meant the end for a would-be nominee.
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NBC News, "Trump may be having second thoughts about Shanahan as Defense Secretary," 11 June 2019 Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light, but since the detectors are so far apart, there should be a slight time lag and a small adjustment in amplitude to account for the curvature of the Earth.
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Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "No more doubts: Two independent studies confirm LIGO’s Nobel discovery," 16 Dec. 2018 Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light, but since the detectors are so far apart, there should be a slight time lag and a small adjustment in amplitude to account for the curvature of the Earth.
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Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "No more doubts: Two independent studies confirm LIGO’s Nobel discovery," 16 Dec. 2018 Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light, but since the detectors are so far apart, there should be a slight time lag and a small adjustment in amplitude to account for the curvature of the Earth.
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Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "No more doubts: Two independent studies confirm LIGO’s Nobel discovery," 16 Dec. 2018
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'time lag.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for time lag
The first known use of time lag was in 1892
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