How to Use dally in a Sentence

dally

verb

• The two of us dallied over our coffee that morning.
• Books are meant to be long, dallying detours into other worlds.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2019
• But there is no need to dally, or shouldn’t be, on the question of who will record the next James Bond theme.
  — Chris Willman, Variety, 5 Mar. 2026
• The other, dallying behind the main group, has had a less productive evening.
  — Rory Smith, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2018
• And then there’s her day job, as a receptionist at her art-school alma mater, to pay her landlord, who dallies on fixing the heater.
  — Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 22 June 2023
• Eventually, even the film itself seems over all of the dilly-dallying.
  — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2026
• The total driving time for this trip is just under five hours (not including ferries), but with so much to see, factor in plenty of time for dilly-dallying.
  — Katy Spratte Joyce, Travel + Leisure, 3 July 2026
• The versatile treat not only dallies with various fillings, flavors, and glazes, but it can be found in different forms, shapes, and textures, too.
  — Annika Hom, BostonGlobe.com, 21 June 2019
• New resident Adrienne is a former movie actress who has no problem dallying with the romantic feelings both men have for her.
  — Elizabeth Marie Himchak, Pomerado News, 28 Mar. 2018
• In an attempt to egg him on through jealousy, Ness herself has been dallying, with unfortunate consequences.
  — Clair Wills, The New York Review of Books, 7 Jan. 2020
• Enough dilly dallying, when are the Broncos going to put in Drew Lock as their starting quarterback?
  — Ryan O’Halloran, The Denver Post, 26 Nov. 2019
• Redford dilly-dallied with jobs in Milwaukee and improving his land and planting subsistence crops, but his aim was to plant more and more wheat, which could be a money crop.
  — Fred Keller, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 25 Aug. 2017
• Another factor in the release undating was Bad Bunny’s touring schedule, which had firmed up while the movie was dallying.
  — Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 June 2023
• With the ball loose in midfield, Southampton’s Flynn Downes dallied on the halfway line, stuck in two minds over whether to push to win possession or retreat into his own half.
  — Elias Burke, The Athletic, 23 Dec. 2024
• After dallying in fresh water for more than two weeks, the whales made a final dash for the ocean Tuesday, moving through San Pablo Bay at a brisk 5 miles per hour.
  — Sacbee, sacbee.com, 11 May 2017
• Their dallying tartness charts an ongoing conversation on the renowned love affair of sour and spice in Mexican cuisine — one worth celebrating.
  — Andrea Aliseda, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2024
• Lonergan is dallying intentionally in territory that might be tough to stomach if a director or an actor took themselves too seriously.
  — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2024
• At Ojai, Lewis wistfully performed the solo prelude off in Libbey Park shrubbery as if a dallying forest spirit summoning ghosts of festivals past.
  — Classical Music Critic, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2026
• Harry Kane scored the crucial goal five minutes from the end after Jack Grealish was caught dallying on the ball, and the Villa captain was punished by the clinical striker.
  — SI.com, 10 Aug. 2019
• As is so often the case for Hong, his latest is a gentle, hypnotically watchable film that breezes by as Iris does herself, dallying around Seoul in a loose summer dress and her striking bright-green cardigan.
  — David Opie, IndieWire, 21 Nov. 2024
• Clement Lenglet struck back almost immediately for Sevilla, but with the hosts pushing for an equaliser, Tello pounced on defensive dilly-dallying in the fifth minute of stoppage time to seal the win.
  — Afp, chicagotribune.com, 6 Jan. 2018
• The full-backs, meanwhile, took their time from throw-ins, ensuring team-mates behind the ball were secure and Emiliano Martinez, who produced a second spellbinding save in as many visits to Nottingham, dallied from goal kicks.
  — Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 1 May 2026
• Willkie’s heretofore sheepish fellow utility heads began to criticize the New Deal as well, including executives at General Electric, whose leadership had dallied with progressivism.
  — Amity Shlaes, WSJ, 13 Sep. 2018
• Written as an undergraduate thesis at Amherst, where the novel occasionally dallies, Wallace tackles disappearing nursing home residents, talking cockatiels, and American society on rampage.
  — Adrienne Westenfeld, Town & Country, 3 Oct. 2014