dallies

Definition of dalliesnext
present tense third-person singular of dally
1
2
3
as in flirts
to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun she spent the summer dallying with a guy renting the neighboring beach house

Synonyms & Similar Words

4
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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for dallies
Verb
  • Aasif Mandvi and Christopher Fitzgerald barely register as Jane and Julia’s oblivious husbands, while Consuelos, who plays Maurice as a suave cuckolder with a dodgy European accent, should probably stick to daytime TV.
    Brent Lang, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026
  • Experts say that’s because magnesium plays an important role in our health.
    Anahad O’Connor, Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • His remarks came as uncertainty still lingers about how long the Iran war would last.
    ABC News, ABC News, 15 Apr. 2026
  • The echo lingers, dissolving into an infinite void.
    Babak Rahimi, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • There is a genre-bending western; two stories blend speculative details with realism to portray women planning their escapes; three stories spec-ify the only-daughter experience; and one story flirts with where to begin.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Throughout the episode, Rue also flirts with leaning full-on into religion.
    Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • The share of Americans who disapprove of the job that Congress is doing stands at an all-time high as the partial government shutdown drags on, according to new polling from Gallup.
    Morgan Chalfant, semafor.com, 22 Apr. 2026
  • The longer his nomination drags on, the greater the chance that the Fed and other central banks will be able to look past the Iran war's oil-price shock and get back to worrying about a weakening labor market.
    Matt Peterson, CNBC, 21 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • But while the new movie dawdles on its way to Toxie’s origins, then rushes toward a finale with a lurching rhythm that verges on calculated ineptitude, its spirit never feels inauthentic.
    Alison Willmore, Vulture, 29 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • The plan also maintains full scope Medi-Cal for asylees and other immigrant groups who were cut out of Medicaid by the federal government and delays Medi-Cal premiums for undocumented immigrants that would otherwise begin on July 1, 2027 to July 1, 2028.
    Kate Wolffe, Sacbee.com, 16 Apr. 2026
  • According to the Terner Center at UC Berkeley, each additional public funding source an affordable developer uses, on average, delays a project four months and increases total cost by $20,460 per unit — more than $2 million for a 100-unit community.
    Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • As your car idles, warm air blown from the top of your dashboard will melt the ice on the outside of the windshield.
    Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 27 Dec. 2025
  • Security camera footage shows a black vehicle park in front of Café Bernardo, a restaurant, and idles for about two minutes.
    Madisen Keavy, CBS News, 17 Dec. 2025
Verb
  • Think about how often your toddler crawls near the dog bed or your kids toss pet toys around the living room.
    Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Apr. 2026
  • In the book, Grace drags Rocky back to his part of the ship, exposing himself to the Eridian environment; in the film, Rocky crawls back while Grace is unconscious.
    Matthew Razak, Space.com, 23 Mar. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Dallies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dallies. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.

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