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as in to flirt
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

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Synonym Chooser

How is the word dally different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of dally are dawdle, delay, lag, loiter, and procrastinate. While all these words mean "to move or act slowly so as to fall behind," dally suggests delay through trifling or vacillation when promptness is necessary.

stop dallying and get to work

When would delay be a good substitute for dally?

While in some cases nearly identical to dally, delay usually implies a putting off of something (such as a beginning or departure).

we cannot delay any longer

Where would lag be a reasonable alternative to dally?

Although the words lag and dally have much in common, lag implies failure to maintain a speed set by others.

lagging behind in technology

How do loiter and dawdle relate to one another, in the sense of dally?

Both loiter and dawdle imply delay while in progress, especially in walking, but dawdle more clearly suggests an aimless wasting of time.

loitered at several store windows
children dawdling on their way home from school

When can procrastinate be used instead of dally?

While the synonyms procrastinate and dally are close in meaning, procrastinate implies blameworthy delay especially through laziness or apathy.

procrastinates about making decisions

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of dally While deleterious when recurring over the course of a lifetime, dilly-dallying can kill even quicker on a basketball court. Ben Travers, IndieWire, 27 Feb. 2025 Arsenal need only look at title rivals Liverpool to see the dangers of dallying. James McNicholas, The Athletic, 19 Feb. 2025 The Dodgers were dallying in Scott's trade market ahead of the 2024 trade deadline before he was sent to the San Diego Padres along with reliever Bryan Hoeing for four minor league players. Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 9 Feb. 2025 There is a decision to be made — and after two years of dilly-dallying, it can’t be delayed any longer. Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 1 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for dally
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dally
Verb
  • During his free agency ahead of the 2024 season, Ohtani visited Toronto as one of his finalists but ultimately chose to stay in Southern California and play for the Dodgers.
    Nelson Espinal, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Despite playing before halftime, Scheierman and Walsh were not put back on the court again until the final seconds.
    Jay King, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • People face food insecurity due to cuts in benefit programs and rising grocery prices long before the August rains and will linger long after.
    La Risa R. Lynch, jsonline.com, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Some people drained their toilet bowls in order to breathe air through the plumbing as the smoke lingered and covered them in yellow soot.
    Julia Coin, Charlotte Observer, 23 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Even the United States, which can sometimes appear allergic to collective transit, is once again flirting with the idea that speed and sustainability might share the same track.
    Chelsea Haney October 25, New Atlas, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Dick’s has flirted with same-day delivery before.
    Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 23 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • A day earlier, flights were delayed at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, New Jersey’s Newark airport and Washington’s Reagan National Airport because of air traffic controller shortages.
    Preston Fore, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
  • His discharge has been delayed due to his father’s detention.
    Zoe Sottile, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • My request to ownership is don’t dawdle.
    DP Opinion, Denver Post, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Ticket availability is scant as of this writing, don’t dawdle (with Jon Muq.
    Aaron Davis, Sacbee.com, 6 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • His low cross found Pascal Gross for a tap-in at the far post after Luke Shaw had been dragged central trying to cut off Adam Lallana.
    Laurie Whitwell, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Vader moves the blade, raises it, but the shadow seems to only deepen, the pull of the dark side suddenly stronger, a riptide that threatens to drag him under.
    Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 22 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • However, having cars idle outside terminals or leaving a car behind, such as what happened during Monday’s incident, does present a security risk, Jeffries said.
    Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Does faster Wi-Fi create an expectation that air travelers, once mostly idle up in the blue sky and clouds, will engage with the virtual world?
    Bruce Finley, Denver Post, 21 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • When a storm crawls like this, rainfall piles up over the same towns for days.
    Briana Waxman, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Modern Wall Street has killed just about everything cool that walks or crawled at one time or another.
    Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 23 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dally.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dally. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.

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