Thesaurus

dally

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of dally

1 to engage in activity for amusement

he spent his college years dallying, seemingly determined to acquire as little knowledge as possible

Synonyms of dally

disport, frolic, play, recreate, rollick, skylark, sport, toy

Words Related to dally

cavort, frisk, gambol, romp

amuse, divert, entertain

delight, please

dabble, fiddle (around), mess around, putter (around)

bum (around), dawdle, goldbrick, hang, hang about [British], idle, loaf, lounge (around or about), relax, rest, screw around, slack (off)

jest, joke, tease

Near Antonyms of dally

drudge, labor, plod, plug (away), slave, strain, strive, struggle, sweat, toil, work

2 to move or act slowly

don't dally on the way to the interview

Synonyms of dally

crawl, creep, dawdle, delay, diddle, dillydally, drag, lag, linger, loiter, lollygag (also lallygag), mope, poke, shilly-shally, tarry

Words Related to dally

fiddle (around), fool around, mess around, monkey (around), play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle

hang (around or out), idle, loaf, loll, lounge

amble, ease, inch, lumber, plod, saunter, shuffle, stagger, stroll

decelerate, slow (down or up)

filibuster, procrastinate, stall, temporize

Phrases Synonymous with dally

drag one's feet (also drag one's heels), drop behind, fall behind, hang fire, mark time, take one's time

Near Antonyms of dally

bowl, breeze, dart, hump, hurtle, hustle, scramble, stampede

gallop, jog, run, sprint, trot

accelerate, quicken, speed (up)

catch up, fast-forward, outpace, outrun, outstrip, overtake

Antonyms of dally

barrel, bolt, career, course, dash, fly, hasten, hotfoot (it), hurry, race, rip, rocket, run, rush, scoot, scud, scurry, speed, tear, whirl, whisk, whiz (or whizz), zip

3 to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun

she spent the summer dallying with a guy renting the neighboring beach house

Synonyms of dally

coquet (or coquette), flirt, frivol, mess around, toy, trifle

Words Related to dally

court, mash, woo

josh, kid, put on, razz, rib, tease

fool, lead on, string along

manipulate, play (with)

4 to spend time doing nothing

I kept dallying at my desk until I couldn't put off doing my work any longer

Synonyms of dally

bum, chill, dawdle, dillydally, drone, footle, goof (off), hack (around), hang (around or out), hang about [British], idle, kick around, kick back, laze, lazy, loaf, loll, lounge, veg out

Words Related to dally

fiddle (around), fool, mess, monkey, muck, piddle, play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle

doze, estivate (also aestivate), hibernate

lag, linger, loiter, poke, relax, rest, tarry

amble, mosey, saunter, stroll, swan

furlough, goldbrick, malinger, truant

Phrases Synonymous with dally

kill time, twiddle one's thumbs

Near Antonyms of dally

drudge, grind, grub, hump, hustle, labor, moil, peg, plod, plow, plug, slave, sweat, toil, travail, work

apply, buckle (down)

Synonym Discussion of dally

trifle, toy, dally, flirt, coquet mean to deal with or act toward without serious purpose. trifle may imply playfulness, unconcern, indulgent contempt.

- to trifle with a lover's feelings

toy implies acting without full attention or serious exertion of one's powers.

- a political novice toying with great issues

dally suggests indulging in thoughts or plans merely as an amusement.

- dallying with the idea of building a boat someday

flirt implies an interest or attention that soon passes to another object.

- flirted with one fashionable ism after another

coquet implies attracting interest or admiration without serious intention.

- companies that coquet with environmentalism solely for public relations

Learn More about dally

See words that rhyme with dally Dictionary: Definition of dally Spanish Central: Translation of dally Nglish: Translation of dally for Spanish speakers

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up dally? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show comments

WORD OF THE DAY

flounce

to move with exaggerated bouncy motions