1
as in delayed
to move or act slowly
don't dillydally on the way to the store
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in hacked (around)
to spend time doing nothing
restaurant employees who, during the slow periods, would rather be doing something instead of just dillydallying
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dillydallied
Verb
-
Chicago O’Hare issued a ground stop on Tuesday night due to thunderstorms, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, with flight departures delayed an average of 15 minutes and increasing.—
Madeline King,
Chicago Tribune,
11 Mar. 2026 -
The probe was delayed from 2022, and headed for the asteroid Psyche, using a Mars-gravity assist and not arriving until August 2029.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The bouncy seventh-year center suffered a severe right ankle sprain on the first day of training camp and the pain has lingered for five months, limiting his mobility and effectiveness on both ends of the floor.—
Mike Curtis,
Dallas Morning News,
11 Mar. 2026
-
Simons fractured his wrist in training camp with the Boston Celtics, an injury that lingered after briefly sidelining him at the start of the season.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
11 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
But researchers who studied crocodiles at an outdoor recreation center near Cape Town appear to have poked a hole in that approach.—
Regina G. Barber,
NPR,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Flick’s team persisted after the break, pressing high and eventually finding a third goal when Bernal poked home from a Joao Cancelo cross.—
Laia Cervelló Herrero,
New York Times,
3 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Cher’s adult son Elijah Blue Allman busted into a New Hampshire home over the weekend, and then kicked back on the couch with a cigarette, police said.—
Jessica Schladebeck,
New York Daily News,
3 Mar. 2026
-
Although the regionalization had led to a deceleration in the growth of shipping costs throughout 2024 as the Everything Store aggressively embarked on its cost-cutting crusade, these expenses kicked back up into high gear throughout the 2025 fiscal year.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Instead, much of Iraq rose up to expel US ground forces, and the war dragged on for eight years.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
6 Mar. 2026
-
The snake had dragged him roughly 30 feet from where their wrestling match began.—
Dac Collins,
Outdoor Life,
5 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
In the minority report, Democrats wrote that the fines in Skaug’s bill were excessive, that the bill chilled the ability of kids to express themselves, and that the committee heard only limited public testimony.—
Idaho Statesman,
Idaho Statesman,
11 Mar. 2026
-
Serve chilled over ice with fresh strawberries to garnish.—
Kaitlyn Yarborough,
Southern Living,
11 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The animal had crawled into a drain pipe during a cold snap and could not turn around to escape.—
Ryan Brennan,
Kansas City Star,
4 Mar. 2026
-
As seen on video from the scene, traffic crawled along the expressway as smoke billowed from the cars and firefighters worked to extinguish the fire.—
Asal Rezaei,
CBS News,
4 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
No, but really, the military has relaxed some of their standards around aesthetics or other standards that kept some qualified people out, like tattoos.—
Chris Gardner,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Mar. 2026
-
The apparent corner-cutting illustrates how top brass at Florida’s flagship law school relaxed longstanding safeguards to fast-track the state’s top legal official into its classrooms — even as Republican leaders in Tallahassee demand greater transparency and oversight of university instruction.—
Garrett Shanley,
Miami Herald,
5 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.
Cite this Entry
“Dillydallied.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dillydallied. Accessed 13 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
